


Cataclysmic Fantasy

by The_Forgotten_Pen



Category: BlazBlue, Osana Reimu, Touhou Project
Genre: And there's more too, F/F, Gen, Look at all these characters, holy shit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-03
Updated: 2016-06-30
Packaged: 2018-06-06 01:59:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 15
Words: 88,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6733408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Forgotten_Pen/pseuds/The_Forgotten_Pen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The NOL has made contact with Gensokyo, and the mystical land of fantasy has to face it's most problematic incident as of yet. As the boundaries collide, new actors will find themselves participating in the continuum shift.</p>
<p>Osana Reimu/Blazblue</p>
<p>Recommend checking out the Web Series, Osana Reimu, before hitting this story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. From The Other Side

**Author's Note:**

> A story from FanFanfiction.net. I thought it would be okay to set up this story here in case my story somehow got deleted, and an excellent chance to expand my readership.
> 
> Please enjoy and tell me what you think.

 

 

**From The Other Side**

_It will repeat. It always repeats. It is the world's fate to continue the monotonous cycles, as Takamagahara sees fit. The people in the world are nothing but actors for a play, the environment nothing but a stage, the entire planet nothing but an experimental plaything. Timelines will repeat, characters will be reunited, and conflict will ensue as it always does, for it is the way of the continuum shift. However, a revelation is forming inside a realm exempt from the time shifts._

_The Boundary…._

...

Residing deep down, in the lower levels of the NOL branch of the 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi, lies a dark ominous lab. Away from prying eyes and ears, the sounds of electrical beepings could be heard, along with several holographic recordings. In the luminescence from the bright recordings stands a man in magenta cloak and clothing with a golden opera mask hiding his visage, stroking his chin thoughtfully. He was so engrossed in the captured images in front of him, that the sound of the door opening and closing behind did little to interrupt his concentration.

"Is the Izayoi currently in effect?" He said, with his back facing the man entering the lab. The sound of a sigh could be heard behind him.

"Yes yes, as per your instruction."

"Good, now we may continue…"

Stepping into the light was a green haired man, dressed in a long black coat, covering his dark waistcoat over a white shirt, a black tie around his neck, matching slacks and dress shoes, and topping it off with a dark fedora resting on his head.

"God dammit Relius, when are you going to tell me what's going on already? You've been ordering me around the whole damn city, making sure to take needless precautions and systematic checks, and you even had the nerve to pull rank! Plus, you asked me to activate the Izayoi way ahead of schedule! Do you realize the consequences of prematurely activating the Izayoi compared to the other timelines? Takamagahara might judge such an act as suspicious, and you know what that means. I don't know about you Colonel, but I'd rather not experience another time loop all over again."

The Mad Puppeteer inched his head towards the intelligence officer, but still kept his eyes glued on the holographic screens.

"That is a risk I am most willing to gamble." He said, his voice betraying what little hesitation he was hinting.

"Couldn't you at least tell me what you were planning before making me go on a wild goose chase?"

"I could not. That would mean risking a potential observation by Takamagahara. And I am extremely confident that if they were to hear what I have discovered, they would have no hesitations in initiating another time loop."

The green haired intelligence official, known professionally as Hazama, stepped up next to his friend as he observed the glowing projections.

"So? What did you want to tell me? Why were you taking different routes in this timeline?"

A few seconds of silence passed between the two as they watched a glimpse of the screenshots and of the recordings.

"An outlier has formed…" he said vaguely

"Easy there colonel. Not everyone has an un-healthy obsession with math as you do" Hazama scoffed.

"…."

Relius was not amused with his friend's attitude. He waited for him to get the memo, for he knew that Hazama was no fool when it comes to observations with the time loops.

After a few seconds of contemplation, he finally got the hint.

"You don't mean…" Hazama seemed visibly surprised. His eyes opening at the words he was hearing, mouth agape.

"A revelation has been formed"

"But for one to come up so sudden…after so many loops…what's changed?"

At the question, Relius went up to the terminal and changed the images in the holographic projections to what looked to be a schematic of-

"A Prime field device?"

"The prime field device, my friend."

Hazama leaned in closer to the blueprints, scrutinizing over the mechanical layouts through near closed lidded eyes.

"The ⑨ th subject…Iota"

"The strongest excavation unit so far, at least durability-wise. During the previous timelines, she was unable to find anything useful within the boundary. However, this timeline is a different story. This time she was able to venture deeper within boundary than previously recorded, farther than any other prime field devices, and what she discovered there was something absolutely extraordinary."

"Well don't leave me out here, what did she find?"

The scientist turned his head towards him.

"Another boundary."

"What?!" Hazama gasped, completely in shock at the information that he was getting.

"This one however, appears to be of mystical origin, and acts as a sort of force field to outsiders." Relius explained.

"Wow, never had I thought of finding such a thing in that place." He said in astonishment as he shook his head at the discovery.

"Well, it was located a lot farther in than the area we found you floating in." Relius grinned at the image of the green haired man slightly shivering. But then again, even he would shake in his boots if he had to wander in such a dimension for so long. He turned his attention back to the screen.

"Anyways, using advanced Ars Magus technology, she was able to break through the 'border', not without sustaining heavy injury in the process however. What she found beyond the border, is truly a spectacle."

At the word, the screen reverted back to the screenshots captured by the unit. The screens showed what appeared to be a vast area of lush green land, with large mountains in the background, along with several lakes and a river. Hazama whistled at the sight of the beauty of the land.

"So? What happened to her?"

_Meanwhile_

Near a pond next to a mountain, a young mechanical girl could be seen laying down on her back in the water, with empty red eyes staring up into the air. Around her, two kappas could be seen. One with short black hair was hammering away at the slouched girl's head with a wrench, hoping to elicit some sort of reaction. After a good three minute of constant banging, she gave up with a sigh, and looked at the other Kappa with blue pig tails.

"I think she's broken Nitori…"

...

"We lost contact after two minutes in the realm. I suspect she gave in to her damage sustained in the boundary and perished soon after. No matter. What's done is done, and her death has brought something that we haven't seen before in all of the continuum shift."

"I'll break out the cake and eggs" Hazama said in mock celebration.

"Later. Right now we need to contact the Imperator and tell her about the discovery." He said with a slight tone of urgency mixed in with his monotone voice.

"Aye-aye colonel," The captain raised up his hand in a mock salute.

Turning his back towards the puppeteer, he walked out of the lab to leave the scientist to his business. On his way back to the elevator, he had an ominous smile on his face.

" _What an interesting turn of events we have here."_


	2. Fate of Gensokyo

**Fate of Gensokyo**

 

 

**Bamboo Forest**

 

Deep inside the bamboo forest, a ritual was taking place. A ritual that would normally be frowned upon for moral and humanitarian reasons, and is even outright banned in most societies. Gensokyo was no exception. However, apparently you're exempt from certain things in life when you are a Hourai…

"KAGUYA!"

A bloodied and panting Mokou was floating in the air. Her body could be visually described as someone who came through a meat grinder, and was still left standing. Bits of skin were missing all over her body; her stomach has chunks of muscle and flesh ripped out, revealing the girl's skeletal structures and muscles, blood was pouring from her forehead, and her clothes were almost in tatters. She curled whatever digits were left in her right hand into a flaming fist.

"You better not be holding back like last time!" she screamed with rage.

A few feet away in front of her was another woman in nearly the same condition as her. However, she had an amused and smug grin on her face in contrast to the scowl Mokou had.

"Oh my Mokou. Are you sure you're ready for all of me?" she giggled into her torn sleeve.

This comment only further fueled the raging fires in the phoenix's eyes. "Don't screw with me, you freaking NEET! If I'm taking you down, it's going to be all of you I take down!"

The lunar princess pulled back her head, and howled a mocking laughter.

"Pretty big 'if' there Mokou. All right then, if you really want all of me…" a sudden glow of purple energy rippled around her. "Then come get me, MOKOU!" she yelled as she sped forward like a glowing purple comet.

"Don't get so cocky, KAGUYA!" Mokou yelled in retaliation as she shot towards the lunar princess in a raging inferno.

As the battle progressed, the sky was littered in fireworks with explosions of red blazes and multicolored energy. Shockwaves were echoing throughout the forest as the two rivals clashed together in the air, with neither force looking to back down anytime soon. When Mokou had the lunar princess in firing range, she took the chance and blasted the other girl with every ounce of her power left in her body. An eruption of black smoke was present where Kaguya was floating. Mokou took a second to catch her breath, proud of herself for the victory she managed to snag for the day. However, while she was heaving out a sigh, the black cloud above her dispersed as Kaguya, in the form of a glowing purple comet, managed to crash into the girl. Both girls crashed into the bamboo forest with a resonating boom, a huge crater around the two as they lay on the ground.

"Ehehe…I win again, Mokou…" Kaguya whispered gently to the phoenix girl underneath her. Mokou laid on her back with one of her arms cradling the equally tired Lunar Princess. What about the other arm, one may ask? Well, Mokou was questioning that herself, as she couldn't feel it attached to her body. Oh well, it didn't really matter. All of her organs had ruptured, and most of her bones were snapped and broken. She could already feel the sensation of death, urging her to rest so that she may rise again.

She coughed out a laugh. "Ha, just you wait tomorrow….Moon…bitch" and with that, she drifted off into a not-so eternal slumber.

Kaguya giggled into the fabric of Mokou's clothes, as she laid her head against the other girl's chest. "I'll be waiting."

Even though she won the battle, her condition was little better compared to her rival, blood was leaking out of every part of her body, she was pretty sure her lung collapsed on itself during the last impact, and she couldn't move any of her limbs.

"Eh, might as well sleep too…" she said drowsily, and allowed the sweet embrace of death to take her along with her rival.

 

**Hakurei Shrine**

 

It was the usual boring day for the residents of the Hakurei Shrine. The sun was shining in the clear blue sky, the birds and cicadas were chirping in the background, the nearby fairies were playing hide and seek in the forest, and the sound of impacts and booms echoed from the bamboo forest around noon time.

"Well…there they go again…"

As for who the residents were; there included one shrine maiden lazing on the wooden floor of the shrine, a certain drunken oni passed out right next to her, an evil spirit leaning against the wall, a turtle lazing about in the pond at the back of the shrine, and one ancient youkai pondering very heavily on something, trying her damnedest not to fall asleep. Wait…what?

"Hey Yukari, calm down a little bit would you?" Reimu said to a certain youkai sage. Yukari meant to reply back with a snarky comment, but instead uttered out a long drawn out yawn, indicating the lack of sleep compared to her usual schedule.

"Didn't quite catch that, Yukari. Try something besides bear-talk." a sarcastic voice could be heard coming from behind the sleep depraved youkai.

"Shove it spectre" Yukari bit back

Behind her was a girl with green hair in blue clothing floating casually, reading one of her magic grimiores. A grin was present on the witch's face behind the book.

"You know I rarely, if ever, take Mima's side on any issue. But really, what's gotten you all tense?" Reimu said while stroking the head of a passed out oni, who decided to use the miko's lap as a pillow in her drunken stupor.

Yukari gaped at the other's apparent obliviousness on the situation. "Surely you all must have heard about the boundary breach!"

"You mean the one near Youkai Mountain, right next to the kappa lake? Who hasn't heard about it? That stupid Tengu just about flew from the polar ends of Gensokyo and back, throwing her damn papers at every face she came across." Mima clarified.

"It's probably not that big of a deal. From my perspective, it could either mean;

1/ This is the Lunarian's doing

2/ One of Dr Yagokoro's crazy experiments

3/ Or Magic" Reimu sighed.

"Templates like that are forbidden, Reimu" Suika slurred on the ground.

"How can you girls be so nonchalant about this?! Gensokyo has been breached! Exposed!"

"Oh no, whatever shall we do? Gensokyo's border has been breached! How can such a thing happen? It's not like something like this has ever happened before. Like say... by a certain lunar bunny that's only good for her sex appeal " Mima exclaimed in mock terror.

"But-"

"What about Maribel? She seems to know a lot about Gensokyo for an outsider" Reimu chimed in.

"Alright, she doesn't need any hel-"

"An how's abouts those two scientists from way's back then?" Suika slurred from her position on Reimu's lap.

"…Seriously?"

"And certainly not by something as large as an entire mansion owned by a certain Vampire, along with her band of servants and her little insane sister. Because that would just be careless." Mima added sarcastically

"All right, SHUT UP!" Yukari roared.

Immediately the entire room was silenced, the birds and bugs stopped singing, and the fairies fled back into their trees. Only the sound of soft snickering could be heard coming from the green haired ghost.

Yukari took in a deep breath, counting to ten in her head, while pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Look, I know this has technically happened before, but my problem is that it's never been done so in this manner. Those examples you listed were matters of simple teleportation by the use of magic from the outside world. This on the other hand was an actual _breach_ ; A forceful break in the Hakurei Border, done by a unique blend of science and magic; the likes of which I have never seen before in the outside world." Yukari explained.

Poor Suika was having a hard time comprehending the words that were being spoken.

"Uhh….wha?" she slurred.

"My point is…I'm starting to think that the mechanical doll, or whatever it is, that appeared near Youkai Mountain, didn't come from the outside world that we're so used to."

She gathered her thoughts, trying to come up with the best way to explain the complexity of this pre-incident. Although, there are just some things that just only gap youkais can understand. Ah well.

"Right before it happened; I sensed a distortion on the other end of the boundary. I had sensed it before, but it was more of a subtle pulse more than anything. This time, the distortion was more intense and concentrated."

"Yep, that sounds like the outside realm so far, always with their little quirks and conflicts. They're probably having one right now over something stupid like chemicals or something." Mima giggled, her grimiore long forgotten in favor of bugging the Gap Youkai. "I think it's cute."

"That's the thing though! The distortions weren't coming from where the outside world is usually located in the boundary; rather it was coming from somewhere else far deeper in the more reclusive area." Yukari scratched the back of her head, a hint of embarrassment apparent on her face. "Frankly, that area of the boundary is more complex than I could care for, and my influence over there is more troublesome than the effort is worth. Every time I try to cross into that area with my powers; either my transmission with my gaps are distorted, or my influence just dissipates completely. Also being in that area always gives me the weirdest sense of déjà vu…" Yukari explained. She looked around to see if her explanation managed to impact them somehow.

As far as expressions go, there was amused detachment from the green haired ghost, impassive boredom from the Shrine maiden and-

"uuuughhhhh…..saaaaaaakeeeee~"

Well…there are just some things you couldn't change it seems.

"Where is the doll right now?" The shrine maiden asked.

The elder youkai looked over the horizon in the Youkai Mountain's direction. "I asked Nitori and her band of Kappa to salvage anything that could be considered interesting and out of place."

"Finding something weird outside of Gensokyo's standard? That's kind of hard…"

"Don't worry. In case you have forgotten, Nitori is a specialist when it comes to technology. When it comes to gadgets; big or small, weird or conventional, she'll do her damnedest to understand it"

…

 

**Near Youkai Mountain**

 

… _flat_

No no…now is not the time, definitely not the time right now, she thought to herself. Nitori lightly slapped herself as she tore her eyes away from the chest of the mechanical doll that lay before her on the table as she recomposed herself to the situation at hand.

One would think that stripping off the mechanical metal parts from a cyborg would be the easy phase before getting into the nitty gritty gore part. But no, once her team removed one of the mechanical pads of her shoulders, a puff of black gas-like substance spewed out of the area where the machinery used to be. At first, it was only considered a nuisance, and at worst caused massive coughing fits to her and her workers. Maybe that would be considered hazardous to regular humans. But she was a Youkai, so she simply brushed it off and persevered. But it wasn't that simple. Nothing ever is…

As the process continued, more of that black substance started to cloud up around the air. Later on, the concept of inhaling the stuff was inevitable. The weird part was that some of her fellow Kappa's started to get more and more aggressive as they were more subjugated to it. Hell, some were getting hooked on the damn stuff. One time she found one of her workers literally planting her face to where the smoke was being emitted, and watching them breathe the stuff in as if it was some high tech bong. It didn't help the fact that the smoke was coming from the mechanical doll itself, and seeing her workers latching their mouths onto the chest area and sucking in black gas was disturbing. And that was putting it mildly.

Now here she stood, staring at the lifeless body now void of machinery. She had to admit, the technological design on the doll was phenomenal. She easily concluded early on in her excavation that whoever built the robot was an engineering genius. The whole layout of the girl was one of which she had never seen before. Mechanical parts were mended together by using highly advanced science and complex machinery with a hint of magical arts involved as a source for power and self-sustainability. Such marvelous technicality could've only come from the ingenuity of the highest caliber. It was almost enough to make her drool, but that wouldn't be the cleanest thing, considering that she was wearing gas mask (Nitori-Brand of course).

She let out a sigh. Now here comes the part that she would loathe. _This is more of Dr. Yagokoro's specialty,_ she thought as she got out a rather oversized saw, with the words "Kappa Industries" etched on the blade. Oh well. A Kappa's gotta do what a Kappa's gotta do.

…

 

"I'm sure she's having a blast right now" Yukari said.

Reimu sighed. On the outside, she looked calm and impassive as ever. However, truthfully, she was a little worried about the sudden turn of events, and Yukari's paranoia wasn't helping much. But that's how it has always been, right? Something mysterious or unexplainable happens, she waits it out a little to assess the seriousness of the situation before she judges it as an "incident", and _then_ she gets off her ass to do work. She looked around the room to see the faces of her companions. Mima was back to reading her grimiore, and Suika was still snoozing away on her lap. She smiled at the sight of the little Oni nuzzling into her while whispering sweet-drunken nothings. "I wonder how the others are reacting to this."

…

 

**Hakugyokurou**

 

Youmu stood at the ready. Every muscle in her body burned as hot as Mokou on a bad day due to such physical exertion. But her eyes burned twice as bright with determination. She held the spellcard between her fingers with conviction of success, and yet she was still trembling; whether from the sheer amount of stress she placed on her body or from anxiety is beyond her. Probably a little of both.

"Lady Yuyuko. Are you ready!?" she yelled, her voice traveling across the Hakugyokurou garden, which is approximately 3000 kilometers in length. It took a while, but a distant, but noticeable "Yes!" echoed back to her auditory senses.

She readied herself, bending her legs while griping the sheath of Roukanken, and her other hand griping the hilt of the sword. Youmu focused on gathering energy from the spellcard, siphoning it and channeling the power into her body.

"200 Yojanas In One Slash!"

Once those words were uttered, she blasted off with an initial velocity already hitting massive hypersonic speed. A massive cloud of dust and smoke exploded into the air where she once stood. Everything in her peripheral vision was a blur of black and bright pink from the petals of cherry blossoms that littered the garden. She focused solely on accelerating, gaining momentum in Mach speed every nanosecond that passes. Everything burned; not only her muscles, but her entire body, due to the sheer awesome speed she was traveling at. She felt exhilarated, the wind flowing through her being, the environment soundless besides the sound of air blowing past her. Everything going good so far, she thought to herself. " _Just focus, concentrate…..almost there….."_

About half way to her goal of relativistic velocity, she lost her footing on a stray branch that lay on the garden grounds. Bad. She fell face first onto the ground. Problem was that she was still moving even after multiple contacts to the hard surface, each contact erected up a massive cloud of dirt and smoke. Her body skidded along the ground of Hakugyokurou, the gaps between each bounce reaching a distance of miles. In technicality, friction was doing it's job on slowing her down. However, to the human eye, it was hardly noticeable. She finally skidded to a painful stop at the end of the garden; her face taking the abuse inertia had to offer, right next to where Lady Yuyuko stood with a stop watch in her hand.

"Now now Youmu, that's not good enough. This time it was 4.28 seconds, much longer then last time…"

Youmu lifted up her gaze to her beloved master, but was unable to hide the tears welling up in her eyes, and the vibrations in her throat when she spoke.

"L-lady Yuyuko...", she choked out a sob.

Yuyuko should've felt bad for her young gardener's blunder, but she couldn't help but crack a smile and gush at the cute expression her usually stoic swordswoman was showing her.

"Aww Youmu~" she bent down and cradled the head of her beloved little gardener in an attempt to make her feel better. However, this only caused the half spirit to become more embarrassed, as a massive blush started to stain her cheeks. Soft hands were gently combing through white hair, and softly massaging the half-phantom's temples. Youmu silently allowed herself to rest against her Master's bosom as she whispered softly into her ear. "You've been working so hard Youmu. Why not take a little rest, hmm?"

As much as she would like to entertain the thought of lying down with her master in the chilly, yet peaceful day, she knew she shouldn't. "I…can't. I have to…become stronger" she said, but was unable to keep the drowsiness out of her reply.

"Why? Why are you working so hard all of a sudden? That technique is very dangerous and shouldn't be attempted multiple times, as it puts a lot of stress on the body." She giggled as she caressed the girl's sleepy face. "I wouldn't want to see this beautiful face of yours damaged."

Youmu normally would've hidden her gaze to avoid further teasing, but at this point, she was too tired to care. She just felt…submissive under the netherworld's queen's gaze.

"But…I need to master it. I'm so close to getting it down, I can practically feel it. I need to master the 200 Yojanas…to protect you…"

"From what?"

"That…break… in the boundary. Something… dangerous might come out of it…" her drowsiness masked any sense of paranoia she had.

Yuyuko laughed silently into her sleeve. Honestly, of course something like that would put her on edge. "It's probably just nothing Youmu. Stuff like this happens from time to time."

Youmu wasn't moved. "B-but-"

"Shhh. Just rest Youmu. I will help you become stronger when you awaken. Ok?" she placed a firm kiss on top of the half sleeping girl's head.

Her yearns for rest eventually came, thanks to her master's kind and gentle nature. "Yes…lady…Yuyuko" and with that, she drifted to sleep, her entire being held by the Princess of the Underworld. Yuyuko smiled, and decided to drift off to slumber together with her beloved gardener.

…

 

**Forest of Magic**

 

Deep inside the Forest of Magic laid a house. A house filled with dolls belonging to one of the most talented mages in all of Gensokyo. She was known as the seven colored puppeteer, Alice Margatroid. She sort of had a reputation of being a little cold and very apathetic, so when she heard the news (when tons of newspapers started to fall down on her house), her first response was stepping away from the window, plopping down onto the nearest couch, opening a spell book, and let the fucks be given by someone else in the Gensokyian community. While technically she did get what she wanted in the end, it had quite literally blown up in her face.

"Yo Alice!"

In the form of the black and white witch, Marisa Kirisame.

"Are you even listening, ze?" the witch questioned.

"It's kind of hard not to at this distance…" Alice replied back.

Indeed, while the witch was blathering on about the possibility of a different world making contact with Gensokyo, she was engrossed in her reading about siphoning energy from the host to dolls in an attempt to drown the other girl out, until the witch popped her head between the book and the puppeteer's face, their nose's only mere inches apart.

"Did you hear what I said?"

Feigning annoyance, the puppeteer slowly and calmly pushed the witch's face away from hers with an open palm.

"Something incredibly stupid like an alien world coming to greet us from a different dimension and that you were excited to enter their world in an attempt to satiate your kleptomania by stealing their spells, technology, utilities, and even their women?"

In all honesty, through months and months of practice, Alice managed to snuff out all words of her friend's ravings while she was reading her book.

"….It's just borrowing, ze"

Yet somehow she managed to more or less hit the nail on the head. She was somehow very irritated specifically at that 'women' part too.

"And what makes you think that this alien race would invite you into their world, so you could have a chance at robbing these poor souls?"

"Who said anything about inviting me?" she said with a grin and held up her mini-hakkero to the puppeteer's face, who immediately slapped the thing out of blasting trajectory from her face. Honestly, stuff like that thing, which has been shown to eradicate mountains, shouldn't be casually held up to another person's face, unless for obvious reasons.

"That's dangerous" the puppeteer said.

"Ah chill out, you brushed off my master spark unscathed….mildly"

"That's not what I meant…" she looked into the witch's eyes, playful sarcasm now replaced with seriousness. "You…storming into an unknown world, mini-hakkero blazing….that's dangerous" It was embarrassing to even entertain Marisa's train of thought, considering how stupid it sounded. However, a bigger part of her couldn't stomach the thought of the witch doing something so pants on head retarded as rushing into unknown territory.

"Hey, I can handle myself just fine, ze! I've been trained and raised by the best! You of all people should know that" the witch said.

"Yeah, when spellcard rules are in place. But Marisa…you're only human. You could die, and unlike most people here, when you die, you stay dead."

This is stupid; there was no other world, no aliens making contact with Gensokyo, no technology to steal, so why was she making such a big deal out of this? But was that absolute? Was there really no outer entity making contact with us? The Hakurei Border isn't exactly a weak force, and has done a pretty good job on repelling unwanted attention from the outside realm, and here they were with a mechanical girl that seemed to have just fallen out of the sky. She had certainly seen much weirder things then aliens, lunarians being just one example, and there was certainly a factor in technology; the mechanical doll's presence itself is evidence enough. Okay, so maybe what Marisa said wasn't that farfetched, but that only made the puppeteer worry more about her friend's recklessness. Despite her seemingly cold attitude, she genuinely cared about her friends, and the witch was probably the closest one to her heart.

A smug and knowing grin was plastered on the witch's face. "It is true; I am only an ordinary magician, but I don't die easily," Marisa then leaned her head onto the puppeteer's lap and looked up into the other mage's eyes. "Because you're going to be there to make sure I won't, right?"

Marisa wasn't unconfident about her ability as a fighter when she said that; she was more than capable of handling business on her own. But she was fully aware of her friend's overprotective nature, and found her reactions to be quite cute. A light blush erupted on the stoic puppeteer's face, and she lightly slapped and cupped the witch's face on her lap.

"…Idiot"

Marisa flashed a cheeky grin after getting the reaction she wanted.

 

…

 

**Hakurei Shrine**

"Eh, they're probably not sweating that much over it." Reimu concluded confidently with a shrug. When she looked over to the gap youkai, she noticed how the elder woman had a wary gaze in her direction.

"Hey…what's wrong?"

The shrine maiden was completely caught off guard when she felt a warm and slimy sensation around her left hand she was holding up. She felt a wet muscle tracing along her knuckles, and even little playful nibbles along her wrists. The shrine maiden felt one of her veins pop when she realized who was the cause of this uncomfortable feeling.

" **Rumia…..** "she growled at the sight of a young girl with short blond hair, happily trying to engulf the shrine maiden's entire left hand. The Youkai held a thumbs up towards Mima, who was smirking while giving her own thumbs up at the spectacle in front of her. While Reimu and Yukari were talking, the ghost looked up from her grimiore to notice the familiar face of Rumia sneaking up on the red and white woman. The youkai froze in place, afraid that she was caught before she could land her usual glomps. However the green haired ghost just winked at her and held up one finger to her lips, signifying her approval for the youkai to proceed.

"Rumia…GET OFF!" Reimu started to thrash around her left arm, trying to shake the youkai off of her. It wasn't very effective, as the youkai maintained her iron grip around the girl's arms while playfully nibbling and licking the hand. Nearly everyone in the shrine started to laugh at the young youkai's near-daily antics; even Reimu was having a hard timing fighting back the smile that was growing on her face. While she did always tell herself that Rumia was nothing but a reoccurring nuisance, she couldn't help but feel a warm and fuzzy feeling when she's around the dark youkai. If she didn't know any better, she could probably label this feeling as "nostalgic". However, while everyone else was laughing and smiling, Yukari stood in the background, and held a look of contempt at the sight before her. Mima glanced at the elder youkai, knowing full well what the woman was feeling at that moment. She gave her a knowing smile, as a silent way of saying " _It's okay, just let it go"._ Yukari held her tongue, but did nothing to hide the scowl on her face.

"Mmmphh~ mReimmu, I mlove youff!" Rumia said, mouth still gobbling the slender hand as she was flung left and right, trying her hardest not to lose her grip on the shrine maiden's arm.

"Hey, hey! Rumia, you're embarrassing me right now!" Reimu said, trying so very hard to etch a permanent frown on her face to hide the amusement and fun she was having right now. ' _That's right, this is how things should be; everyone playing and living their lives with no worries about any gap breaches, or robot dolls. Its times like these I really should be cherishing the people around me. Less stress that way…'_ the shrine maiden thought to herself, finally letting the smile spread across her face.

Just then however, a loud thunderous sound echoed throughout the mystical land. Shocked out of their revelry; the inhabitants of the shrine headed outside to see what in the world just happened. What they discovered left them gawking up at the sky dumbfounded.

…

_It has been foreseen. A day of reckoning has begun, and an era of despair will commence._

 

**Outside the Hakurei Shrine**

 

"Hey….are you guys seeing what I'm seeing?" Reimu asked, unable to hide the tremors in her voice.

"Its…kind of hard to miss" the ghost replied.

_The skies will blacken, as the souls of mortals and youkais alike will cry out in anguish as they are consumed by the great Azure…_

 

**BGM: CLOUDY (Blazblue OST)**

 

At the center of the sky, a large portion imploded in on itself, and a ripple in space formed in the air, resulting in a giant purple vortex at the center of Gensokyo's once blue skies. A dark purple gaseous substance began leaking from the vortex, and was descending onto the surface of the mystical plains. Tiny shards of blue light can be seen floating from segments of the land, mostly from areas teeming with life like the forest or villages, and being sucked into the vortex above.

 

**Inside the Bamboo forest**

 

_Many different people will be plunged into a great turmoil, as stabilization in our land will crumble…_

Kaguya arose with a slight cough. The air around her was stale and foggy. Every breath she took stung her lungs, which was weird considering that her regenerative powers most definitely fixed her lungs hours ago. She looked up towards the girl she was slumbering on, and was surprised to see her rival awake before she was.

"Mokou…?"

Mokou barely acknowledged the other girl's presence. Her eyes were to engrossed with the sight. A swirling vortex of purple engulfed most of the skies above her, with little blue lights rising up into the air, spiraling into the center of the ripple in space.

"What is this…?" she said hoarsely, unable to grasp the situation.

 

**Hakugyokurou**

 

_Even the dead will soon lose its well deserved right to rest..._

 

Youmu awoke with a start, taking note of the change in the environment around her. The temperature around the garden turned from a cool and gentle breeze, into a bone chilling sensation. The energy around Hakugyokurou soon became chaotic, no longer in equilibrium. An ominous feeling was creeping up her back, as a sense of dread filled her soul.

"Lady Yuyuko!"

"I feel it too, Youmu."

Youmu looked up towards her mistress from her position pressed up against the other woman, and saw a similar look of dread on her lady's face. Yuyuko's eyes narrowed as she looked upwards towards the realm of the living.

 

**Inside the Forest of Magic**

 

_War will spread throughout the land, as the conflict will even reach the vast disparity of dimensions_

 

As soon as they heard the thunderous sound from the outside, the magic duo got up from their position on the couch to the nearest window.

"What in Makai…is that?" Alice couldn't help but say as soon as she saw the ripple in space in the sky above.

"See?! What did I tell you?! Aliens, Ze!" Marisa said excitedly with a flourish of her arms.

 

**Garden of the Sun**

 

_And death and chaos will once again be the dominant force in Gensokyo…_

 

In the midst of the incident, a certain green haired youkai stood in the middle of her garden, an ominous maniacal grin plastered on her face as she looked up into the sky.

"Now this is interesting!" she whispered to herself, her whole body trembling in excitement at the upcoming chaos that is sure to ensue.

 

**Scarlet Devil Mansion**

 

" _As the wheels of fate turn; everything we hold dear will be lost, and everything we cherish will become ruin."_

Upon the upper balcony of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, Remilia Scarlet sat near her tea table, looking at the spectacle from a distance. A knowing and forlorn grimace was on her face. She gracefully placed her teacup she was drinking on the table.

"For it is the fate of Gensokyo…"

...


	3. Colliding Boundaries

Noel: Major Kisaragi. An important update from Imperial command has been announced.

Jin: *sigh Speak Lieutenant…

Noel: A new chapter of Cataclysmic Fantasy has come up sir!

Jin… Tch. What rubbish….

* * *

**Colliding Boundaries**

 

**Lower levels of Kagutsuchi**

" _Interdimensional link established. Resuming outer influential process._

_Loading…_

_Loading…_

_Active check from Takamagahara system failed_

_Influence outside Master Unit's system has been reached_

_Loading…_

_Loading…_

_Interdimensional Interference field successful"_ The terminal relayed in a robotic voice.

It was done. Holy hell it was really done. A sudden mirth filled his entire being. His shoulders started to shake, and he held up one hand to his forehead in an attempt to control himself.

"Hehehe hehahaha HaHaHaHa HAHAHAHAHAHAHA"

He really couldn't help it; it was just too damn perfect. What started out as a small giggle turned into a genuine laugh, which then turned into full blown hysteria followed by small gasps in between laughs in a desperate attempt to get his breath back.

"It worked, it fucking worked!" Hazama screamed out in delight. "Splendid, absolutely splendid! The inter-dimensional link between the two ends of the boundary has been formed without a hitch. Kusanagi will now have a steady supply of souls without interference from the master unit! Who knows how powerful she will become now!"

While Hazama was laughing maniacally, Relius was silently sitting beside him, pondering in front of the terminal in front of them. His gaze was primarily focused on the gauge that displayed the amounts of souls gathered. Already, the gauge showed an impressive level of souls gathered. Almost equivalent to an entire Praetorian NOL battalion to be precise, and in such a short span of time. It truly was astounding. Clearly the souls that were being absorbed weren't just from ordinary mortals, as the amount of power from each soul far exceeded that of a normal human. Perhaps some form of beastkins or other species were involved? Whatever it was, he wanted to know more about it. He wanted to know where such souls of high caliber could've come from. Undiscovered data like this was criminal to the puppeteer.

"I wonder what kind of reaction they are having right now. Ahhh, to feel their anguish and despair, it must be simply exquisite!" Hazama said whimsically to his friend, who only replied back with a hum of acknowledgement.

"Hey Relius, what are you thinking right now? After all the years I've known you, I barely ever see you have that kind of face."

Upon that statement, Relius instinctively raised his hands to his face. Indeed, he was smiling. Not just a small grin that would sometimes show up from time to time when something intrigued him. No, this was a full, genuine smile that was akin to a child looking at a toy through a window with eyes brimming with excitement. Here he was, looking at a monitor that was showing blue glowing souls of all different sizes being collected from the Sheol gate to being absorbed by the monolithic Altar.

"Relius?"

Ah… that one was fairly large, and there was a shard of similar size floating behind not too far away. The frequency of souls of that size seemed to be more significant compared to the one in the present dimension. Ooh, that one was bigger…and so was that one…

"Err… Rel-"

"Hm- Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!"

As soon as he saw his usually emotionless acquaintance laughing, Hazama started to silently and slowly step away from the puppeteer. Never in all of his years as an existing entity, dead or alive, has he seen Relius uttering such a mirthful laugh before. And people called him creepy…

"Colonel…Relius…?"

The Mad Puppeteer just kept laughing. Only when his laughter died out did he reply back.

"I'm fine, my friend. Just fine…" He reassured absentmindedly, quickly turning his attention back to the screen and blatantly ignoring the other man's presence.

_'I want more….'_

To say that the atmosphere was awkward would be an understatement. The entire room was deathly quiet, and neither man moved from their spot. Relius was too engrossed in the images in front of him, and Hazama was unsure of what was going on. Through experiencing lifetimes of events over and over again, he had grown a habit of understanding every detail, and left no rocks unturned. To him, nothing pissed him off more then being "unsure". Well, maybe except vampires. Thank god he only has to deal with one of them now. It was a pain in the ass to deal with two in the past. But that's beside the point.

Something was amiss, and to be honest, it's to be expected. Who knows what unexpected consequences the continuum shift would bring to an interdimensional interference field link. So far, he was experiencing the first time-loop for this to happen. So everything was new to him.

' _I guess I'm just going have to wing it, I suppose'_ He thought to himself.

"Hazama" The puppeteer said suddenly.

"Huh?"

"I want you to head up to the altar and strengthen the link to the other world. Your Azure Grimiore is the only thing that's keeping the Master Unit at bay."

If he wasn't a proficient intelligence officer, he might've missed the hint of greed coming from that request.

"Again?" Hazama sighed. Relius was always so hard to please. Experience under his tutelage taught him that. "Alright…Phantom? If you would…"

At the request, a purple hue of energy surrounded the green haired man, and in an instant, he was no longer present in the room.

* * *

_Boundary_

* * *

** Gensokyo  **

"This sucks…" Reimu lamented while hovering over the wasteland that she had just laid more waste too.

It has only been two weeks ever since the giant purple vortex first appeared over the skies of Gensokyo and started spewing dark gas onto the populace. And yet the land has been affected so much in such a small time frame.

The gas, now properly identified by the great mages of Gensokyo as "seithr", is a long forgotten and highly controversial source of pseudo-magical energy found in the boundary. Long forgotten because true sorcery and magic trumps it in terms of raw power, and that there was no effective process of utilizing it in a more organized way other than mere ingredients for potions. Controversial because it was not worth the energy output it produces, as in large quantities, it can have highly dangerous affects to any forms of life. Barely any Mages worth their staff now a days would rely on such a substance. As Mima had described it to her, 'it was merely dust that posers played with'. In small doses in a controlled environment, seithr is almost harmless, save for a few coughing fits. In fact, you would be hard pressed to find anyone who wasn't some sort of magician in Gensokyo who actually knows what it was, and even then, only a small handful do. Still, even way back then, way before even three generations of her lineage, its usage was merely scoffed at. It was actually quite rare to find any sources of Seithr in Gensokyo.

The stuff was literally everywhere now. The skies were blanketed with endless dark clouds, preventing sunlight from shining down onto the once beautiful and tranquil lands. Everything was now darker and bleaker looking. The surface of Gensokyo drowned in the substance. The trees and plant life in forests and swamps were now husks of what they once were. The greens have shriveled and blackened. The wood, once strong and sturdy, has become decrepit plywood. The lakes and other aquatic sources have become tainted, making any attempts at drinking water tantamount to suicide.

Ecologically speaking, this incident was a disaster. The effect it had to youkais and humans, on the other hand, was a complete nightmare.

For normal wildlife and humans, seithr can have major devastating effects on their biology if they are subjected to it long enough. Their bodies will start to alter as the seithr mutates various parts of the body. Their skins will blacken and decay, and the internal organs and vessels will deteriorate, leaving their bodies visibly shrunken up. Their appearance resembles a dark gaudy skeleton of what they once were. The magical properties in the seithr can also have a factor, as the victims will often have bright red vein-like lines running across various parts of their bodies. Their hands will transform into massive amorphous black claws, and their eyes will turn pure red.

However, not only is their body affected by the seithr, their psyche starts to erode as well. This is where death can be seen as a blessing. Some humans or animals simply die at the over-exposure to seithr, but the ones left living will often lose their minds and become feral. They will often give in to their baser instincts and become over aggressive to anything living within their sight, attacking them without restraint. Only the ones with the strongest soul and will, will be able overcome the mental decay. Therein lies the problem however.

Reimu looked around her, and sure enough, she spotted the occasional blue shards of light floating up towards the sky, probably towards the giant vortex above the clouds. Someone was harvesting the souls of the people of Gensokyo, which left her with quite a catch-22. Only those with the strongest souls are able to keep their sanity. However, some outside entity is forcibly ripping out those souls from their bodies, making the only ones safe are those with the magical prowess to protect their souls from being absorbed. Which is no small feat. She even had to lace her attire with more magical charms and other assorted spiritual protection. However, most were not fortunate to have the same blessings she had. All the animals in the wilderness and the majority of the common folk have already turned into mindless animals.

"Hm?" Reimu heard a small noise coming from the ground.

Youkais and magical beings on the other hand were a little more complicated...

"Gods damn..." Reimu shuddered at the sight below her. On the ground was a black shadowy being. A youkai, or what's left of it. Only half of it's head and a segment of it's shoulder was present. Black dust was starting to gather around the creature, turning into an appendage. It let out an un-godly wail as it raised up it's newly regenerated arm in the air up at Reimu, as more dust started to gather around it's shoulder and head. She missed one, or more like she left the job partly done.

Unlike normal animals and humans, a youkais entire composition was mostly made of magic. Their entire being was forged by extraordinary powers. This only causes more problems. The seithr not only mutates their flesh, but also alters the magical properties that make up the youkai. The seithr bonds with their magical essence and alters it, giving them the ability to regenerate quickly. Youkais were already hard to put down. Now with the seithr, the struggles have increased ten fold. No matter how many times you shoot an infected Youkai down, it will get up. No matter how many times you shoot off it's head, a new one will take it's place. If even a speck of dust remains, a new trouble will roam the next day. The only way to get rid of them completely, is by destroying all traces of their existence. Not a single atom of their body must remain.

Reimu got out a couple of charms and held them at the ready.

"Forgive me, little guy." She muttered silently. With that, she flung the red slips of paper at the growling youkai. Upon impact, a massive blazing inferno erupted from the spot, which ended up being the major source of light in the area. After the fire had died down and upon further inspection, she no longer sensed the youkais presence.

"Damn it…" This wasn't the way things were supposed to be. What was supposed to happen was they duke it out Danmaku style, beat the baddies into submission, and have a massive party afterwards. That's how she envisioned things to be. That was how it was supposed to work under the system she made.

"But not this...not this…"

"Yo Reddie!" a voice from the distance called her.

Reimu turned towards the source. "Marisa. Hey"

"Yo...everything ok here?"

"Huh? Yeah. This area is clean, for now atleast."

Marisa raised her brow at the dull tone in her friend's voice. "You sure you're okay? You seem kind of out of it, ze"

Reimu shook her head. "Hmm. Yeah, I'm okay. Anyways, is the Human Village secure?"

"Magic barrier's up! That should keep the seithr out and some souls in,ze." the witch said with a cocky grin and a thumbs up. "By the way, they are having a meeting at the Scarlet Devil Mansion."

"The Scarlet Devil Mansion? What does Remilia want?" Reimu asked

"It's not just Remi. A whole bunch of people are there,ze. C'mon" With that, the two darted towards the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

**Misty Lake**

"C'mon you guys! Stop acting so weird! WAKE UP!" Cirno yelled at the top of her lungs, blasting ice shards at the group of black malformed fairies hovering over the lake.

"It's no use! They just keep coming!" one of the fairies next to her yelled out.

"Dammit! Hold the line! They cannot get through no matter what!" Cirno ordered the fairies in her gang.

Currently, Cirno and her band of fairies are cornered on the ridge of Misty lake. In front of them were legions of horrible zombified black fairies. Fairies that Cirno knew, who were once friends to her.

She should've left towards one of the designated 'safe' zones, like the human village or the Underground. She would've too, but she could not. Not when…

"Cirno!" one of the fairies called out to her from behind.

"What is it?!" Cirno yelled, clearly frustrated.

"I-its...Dai…"

"Ah crap...I'll be right back!" Cirno told her comrades, who yelled in acknowledgment.

BGM: Rimelight

She then proceeded to fly back to the huge tree at the back, her home. When inside, she saw a sickly green haired fairy lying in her bed. Her skin was deathly pale, with spots of black starting to surface. Her wings, once vibrant and bright, were now dull and motionless. She was having a massive coughing fit, and was even hacking up some blood.

"D-Dai?" Cirno called out hesitantly.

At the sound of someone calling her, Daiyousei's eyes shot open. She looked towards the source of the voice.

"C-Cirno?" she coughed. "I-is...is that you?" she asked feebly, her voice spent and shaking from the intense coughing episodes. Cirno moved slowly towards her sick friend. Upon closer inspection, Cirno saw that Daiyousei's eyes, which were once a brilliant emerald color, were now starting to glow red, her iris completely ruby, and glowing red veins were starting to surround her sockets.

"Yeah...I'm here Dai..." she reached out to grasp her friend's outstretched hand and covered them with her own. However, as soon as her skin got in contact with the other fairy's hand, a sudden chill shot through her arm. She looked down at the hand, and saw that it was significantly darker than the rest of her body, and that her nails were starting to sharpen on their own, with red veins streaking down her fingers. But she did not let go. instead, she only held onto her hand tighter. "I'm here Dai."

Daiyousei smiled at the confirmation. "I'm glad…". If she had the strength, she would've tightened her grip around the Ice Fairy's hands. But she didn't have the strength. After a couple of minutes of silence, Daiyousei decided to ask her friend 'the question'.

"How's... everyone doing...outside?" she asked between coughs.

Cirno's expression blanched. She mulled over the right words in her head she could say to ease her friend's worry. She put on her best cocky grin and held a thumbs up.

"E-Everything's A-Ok! Everyone is doing a great job, and we are kicking some serious zombie butts out there! Of course, I shot down the most, since I am the strongest fairy ever afterall." she said smugly.

Daiyousei let out a hollowed giggle. "You're a horrible liar. You know that, Cirno?"

"..." Cirno said nothing at the assertion.

The faint smile on the green haired fairy dissipated immediately upon hearing the silence coming from her friend. "How many?"

Cirno gulped. "...Four…" she reluctantly responded. "Isabelle, Maya, Hikari, and Izumi." She tried to staunch the tremors in her voice, but was doing a rather poor job. "T-They came out of nowhere...we saved a lot more..B-but" she blinked back the tears, "But we couldn't save those four in time…"

Daiyousei gasped and winced upon hearing the news. "Oh Gods", she moaned in despair; with tears falling down her eyes, she started to cough in sync with her sobs.

"..." Cirno felt like she should say something. To ease the despair her friend was having. Maybe some jokes? Some motivational speeches? But nothing appropriate came to mind. It pained her to see her friend suffering like this. It pained her even more knowing that she could do little about it.

"...why…?" she heard her friend ask silently. "Why…?"

"W-We tried our best! We're fighting our har-"

"That's not what I meant…" the sick girl suddenly shot up from her bed and roughly yanked the other girl's collar, pulling Cirno's face closer to her's.

"Why... **are you guys still here?!** " she seethed, her pupils dilating. " **Why haven't you taken the girls to one of the safe zones?! The Underground,Youkai mountain , hell I heard the Human Village got their magic barrier renewed! So why are you wasting your time here, when you could save a bunch of our people already?!** "

Cirno was surprised. Dai had always been a docile fairy, and would've never yelled at her like that. "Don't be stupid Dai! You can barely fly! And we are not carrying in the air so you can breathe in more of this...stupid gas!"

"You just don't get it do you?" she pushed the Ice fairy away. " **Look at me!** " she looked down at her hands. Her blackened talons started to involuntarily twitch. "Everything hurts! I can barely see anything anymore, all I taste is my own blood, and all I smell is seithr!"

Cirno sniffed the air. "You can smell it?"

" **I'M DEAD. DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?!** " Daiyousei roared. She slumped back into her previous position in her bed. "I'm dying Cirno. Can't you see that? I'm wasting away here. Sooner or later I'll die and probably be reborn into one of...those things." A cascade of tears started falling from her eyes. "And If that doesn't happen, those monsters will probably get me anyways, so I would be eaten alive. Having my flesh chewed off, only to be reborn as a monster anyways…"

Cirno blanched at that statement. "So don't you see? I'd rather die knowing that you guys are safe then see my friends die one by one everyday, only to have a few more agonizing moments in life…"

"STOP IT!" Cirno yelled, her fist banging the mattress. "We would never leave you! All of us agreed to never leave anyone behind to those things. No one is getting left behind to be eaten, ok?!"

Daiyousei stayed silent for a moment, but smiled once the opportunity presented itself. "That's right. It must be scary, right? To be eaten by your past friends, knowing that sooner or later you would be part of their ranks, then searching and hunting down your own friends…" she whispered. Cirno had no idea why her friend was bringing this up.

"That's why, could you do me one favor Cirno?"

The Ice fairy immediately leaned in closer to her green haired friend. "Anything!"

Daiyousei's smile widened. She slowly reached for the ice fairy's hand. " Then...could you…" she pulled her hand towards her face,"...Just…" and placed the cold palm right on her forehead, right between her eyes. "End it...for me...already?"

Upon realization of her friend's request, Cirno's heart froze and sunk down her chest. She ripped her arm away from the other fairy's grasp.

"...You're joking right?"

"..."

"That was a bad joke there...Dai…" Cirno choked mid sentence.

"Cirno...I-"

"NO, SHUT UP!" She pounced onto the bed and pinned the other girl down by the shoulder. "How...How could you...How dare you ask me to…" she hiccuped. Through her red hazy vision, Daiyousei could see that the girl on top of her was crying furiously. Some of the tears dripped from her face and onto her's.

"Have you really given up on me that much, Dai?"

Daiyousei's heart crumbled upon hearing her friend ask her that. For as long as she has been Cirno's friend, she had always been the supporter of the beloved tomboyish girl; the foundation for her pride, the pillars that held up her lovable ego. As much as she often flaunted her unusual amount of strength as a fairy, often calling herself the strongest being in all of Gensokyo, in actuality she was fragile. She was only a small fairy girl, and a young one at that. The only reason how she kept that spirit so high, her pride from crumbling, and her soul so bright has always been because of Dai. Daiyousei was always the voice of reason, the one she would turn to whenever Letty was away, the shoulder she would cry on whenever she felt her pride broken. She would always hug her, lay down on the ground, and would always know the right words to say to her blue haired friend. " _You're always the strongest in my eyes, Cirno"_. Cirno needed Dai in her life. For her to just give up on her was the same thing as betrayal.

"Cirno! I didn't mean-"

"Idiot!" Cirno interrupted. "You...you…" She buried her head into the other fairy's chest; weeping uncontrollably while lightly pounding her fist against the green haired girl. "Idiot, Idiot...Idiot, Idiot...Idiot…"

"The one who calls other idiots is the idiot, Cirno…" Daiyousei started to giggle, which then turned into choked sobs. She cradled the blue head as she whispered apologies as the other fairy continued to fling the same insult.

"I'm sorry…"

"Idiot…"

"I'm sorry…"

"Idiot!"

They embraced each other for what seemed like hours, sobbing into each other's shoulders to their heart's content.

"I love you, you know that Dai? I'll never allow you to die" Cirno said, her voice shaking.

"Hmm. I love you too, Cirno.."

Cirno pulled away from the other fairy's shoulder, and looked at her in the eyes. " I promise. I promise I'll fix this. I'll get help, and I'll beat up whoever did this, and then we can be like we were. Ok?"

Daiyousei nodded silently. Her energy spent due to the emotional output, she decided to fall asleep, hoping that when she wakes up, her blue friend would be there waiting for her. "Ok…"

Cirno planted a kiss on top of her friend's forehead as she drifted to sleep. She was about to take a nap too, until she heard clamoring outside by her fairies.

" _Hey look! It's the Starlight Berserker and the Red and White!"_ She heard one of the fairies exclaim.

"Did you hear that Dai?! I'll get Marisa and Reimu to help, so don't worry!" She told her friend, who tentatively opened her eyes. Cirno rushed out of the doors and through her makeshift magical barrier and took to the skies, hoping to catch up to the two heroines.

"...Wait…" Daiyousei extended her arms at the retreating blue figure. It was too late though, the ice fairy was long gone at that point.

"...Don't leave me…."

...

**Outside Scarlet Devil Mansion**

When they got near the vicinity of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, Marisa and Reimu noticed two figures standing ready at the entrance of the gate. One of them was a silver haired maid in blue and white attire. She was the perfect picture of elegance and grace; arms folded over her chest as she held herself up with an air of confidence. The person right next to her on the other hand was the exact opposite. Right next to her was a red haired woman in green oriental clothing, sluggishly holding herself up. No one blamed her, as her sleep schedule had been drastically changed due to the incident.

"Yo! China, Sakuya!" Marisa yelled. Both girls touched down near the maid and guard. "Got her for you, just like you asked, ze" the Witch motioned towards the shrine maiden.

The silver haired maid stepped up and bowed gracefully. "Welcome to the Scarlet Devil Mansion, Reimu of the Hakurei Shrine"

"Ahhh..." Reimu scratched her cheek. "Don't be so formal, Sakuya" Reimu waved her off.

"My apologies" the maid recomposed herself and went up towards the shrine maiden and gave her a hug. "It's so good to see you again, Reimu…"

Reimu stiffened for a moment, before saying, "Likewise" eventually returning the hug. "So? What do you need me for?"

"Of course. The meeting is being held in the dining hall. Shall we go there now?" The maid motioned towards the entrance of the mansion. Once the group got past the front gates, a noticeable boom echoed throughout the entire forest in the background.

"Uh...What was that?"

Meiling sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. "Oh. Uhaha, that was-"

More explosions started to go off simultaneously, each one louder than the next. The whole forest was soon set ablaze by the power wielded by the unknown entity. In the luminescence, the four could see a couple shadowy beings crawling on the forest floor in the distance. A second later, those beings suddenly combusted in a huge gory explosion, followed by the sound of a girl giggling. When they looked up towards the sky, they could make out the image of a small girl with multi colored lights floating at her side.

"Lady Remilia gave Flandre permission to go outside and 'play'" Meiling said.

"Hehehe, go get'em Flan!" Marisa cheered.

"Uh...is she gonna be ok?" Reimu asked.

Up above, Flandre did a little twirl in the air and proceeded to dive down towards the ground in a streak of scarlet energy.

"WHEEEEE!"

Upon collision, a massive red explosion erupted a few kilometers away from the girls, wiping out any existence of life within the blast radius.

"Nah, she'll be fine." Marisa waved it off. "Now come on, everyone's waiting for you."

**Scarlet Devil Mansion**

"So the entire place is now empty"

"Every soul?"

"The entire Hakugyokurou, its all quiet now…" The ghost lamented.

The door to the dining hall suddenly opened, interrupting their conversation. All heads turned towards the newcomer.

Reimu was surprised to see who was waiting for her. Whole aisles of people on each side of a long table to be exact. On one side was Eirin and her camaraderie; with Tewi and Reisen standing behind her, and sitting next to her was the princess herself. Standing right next to Kaguya was Mokou, who was casually holding her hands in her pockets while leaning on the wall, and next to her was her Hakutaku friend. Further down the table was the queen of the netherrealm and right next to her was her most trusted guardian/gardener, Youmu Konpaku. Youmu looked mostly the same, her green and white attire still present, but what was different was that now she also wore a pair of metal gauntlets and full sets of iron greaves along with her usual attire. Most likely as more defense for her fair share of battles.

On the other side of the table was the mistress of the mansion herself; Remilia Scarlet, dressed in a more elegant and sharper looking attire than her usual ones, and next to her was Patchouli, with her Koakuma floating behind her. Further down was the people who Reimu was most familiar with; Mima was there sitting casually with her hands entwined together, Suika was sitting down and drinking what looked to be her twenty third glass of sake. Sitting right next to Mima was Alice Margatroid, who was calmly and quietly drinking her tea, and floating near her was Genji. And last but not least…

"Reimu!" the little youkai screamed in excitement and pounced on the shrine maiden, hugging the girl's lower half.

"Hey Rumia" the shrine maiden patted the youkais blonde head.

Marisa quickly rushed to Alice's side while Sakuya gracefully waltzed over towards her mistress's side.

"Well,well the Prodigal Son has returneth...Or Prodigal Shrinemaiden to be more precise" Mima teased.

"Shut up Mima. What's going on?" Reimu asked.

"Actually if you think about it, her comparison isn't that inaccurate." A voice echoed throughout the room. A voice that reeked of pride and authority, yet sounded obviously stressed and tired at the same time. From the shadows at the back of the room, the kitsune shikigami pushed forth a wheel chair with a clearly sleep deprived Yukari on it. Not only that, but a pained expression was also present on her face. She was breathing more heavily, her brows was drenched in sweat, and a grimace was etched on her face.

"Yukari…"

"Hello Reimu. Long time no see" Yukari said, her voice hollow and spent.

Remilia cleared her throat, silently asking for all other conversations to cease. "Now that Reimu is here, we can now begin."

"Of course" Yukari entwined her fingers. "I trust that all of you are aware of the incident by now."

Her response was a bunch of blank stares from everyone in the room.

"Ok, pretty stupid question." Yukari admitted.

"We're not here to discuss the details of the incident. I am sure all of us are well acquainted with the problems the seithr brings." Remilia stated.

"My sake tastes weird!" Suika blurted out.

"What we are here for is the discussion of any possible remedies to our current situation." Remilia continued.

Yukari sighed while rubbing her temples. "I'm afraid I may not be as much help there. I'm already preoccupied with trying to keep the ripple from expanding."

"But wait. You're the master of boundaries, are you not? Couldn't you just simply will the portal to close?" Reisen questioned.

"Don't you think I would have already done that if I could?" Yukari snapped fiercely.

The lunar bunny stiffened when she heard that sudden spiteful reply. She tore her gaze towards the floor and bowed low. "Please excuse me for my ignorance, Lady Yukari…"

Yukari felt chills run down her spine once she saw the glare the lunarian doctor was giving her. "No, forgive me. It's the lack of sleep." She went back to massaging her temples. "To answer your question; no I can't just simply close it on my own. Normally closing something like this would be easy as blinking for me. However, for this incident is a littl-a lot more complicated."

Yukari gazed out of the window towards the swirling segment of the clouds. "Whoever is causing this is located on the farther side of the boundary. Problem is that part of the boundary is so heavily distorted that even my influence fades when I get into close proximity. And whatever power they are using to do this, well...its strong. If the source of this was in Gensokyo, then MAYBE I could've taken care of it on my own. But since they are so far into that part of the boundary, there is no way I can do anything more other than keeping the portal from getting bigger than it already is, which constantly takes up all my power and concentration all day and all night." She slammed her fists on her armrests in frustration. "I haven't slept in two weeks straight. The only reason why I am up and active is through Dr. Yagokoro's meds. So YOU ALL FIGURE SOMETHING OUT SO I CAN FINALLY GET SOME SLEEP!"

And so, the discussion commenced. Everyone around the table started to offer their own ideas and opinions. Most of the suggestions however were originating from Eirin, and Yukari herself, and most of the criticisms came from Remilia Scarlet. A few others chimed in, of course, but after almost an hour, it was apparent that they were getting nowhere. Some of these suggestions didn't even make sense to Reimu's ears. They sounded more like temporary solutions rather than an actual fix. It baffled her so much when the solution was so obvious. Judging by the looks of some of the others; mainly Yuyuko, Youmu, Remilia, Marisa, Alice, and the Immortals, they all must have the same idea in mind.

"We could use a BIG needle, and sew the giant hole in the sky up! So it will stop the gassy things from leaking!" Suika suggested.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"You guys are joking right?" Reimu finally broke her silence. "I mean, no offence, but you can't be this dense.."

"Oh, then what do you think we should do?" Mima goaded. All other eyes flew towards her apprehensively.

"The obvious thing! We go to the other side of this boundary whatever, find whoever is doing this, and kick their asses Gensokyo style!"

"Yeah!" Marisa fistpumped the air.

"No" Yukari said immediately after the idea was suggested. Almost too quickly in Reimu's ears.

"So it did cross your mind. Why not?!" Reimu demanded.

"Reimu, this case isn't like the other incident. This is more dangerou-"

"Are you kidding me?! I literally went to Hell and back before! Just ask Alice!" Reimu pointed towards the puppeteer, who in turn nodded in confirmation.

"The answer is no. That's final" Yukari decided.

"Why?" the shrine maiden persisted. "What is the differe-"

"Because I can't help you Reimu! All those other incidents, if you were in a fatal scenario, I could have intervened. But once you cross through the boundary, there's nothing I can do! I can't bring you back,and I can't see if you are in danger or not. I can barely keep the damn thing from getting bigger for Dragon god's sake!"

"This isn't about me! This is about Gensokyo!" Reimu argued.

"My, oh my. Since when did you grow up all of the sudden" Mima asked mockingly. "Whatever happened to my little red and white priestess that would be constantly tired and laze around the shrine all day; complaining about lack of donations while procrastinating her duties?"

Reimu slammed her hands down onto the dining table, shaking all the silver wares and contents. "I am tired!" she motioned towards the purple hazy fog out of the window. "Tired of all this!"

"Answer me this, what makes Gensokyo special? What makes it what it is? It's not the pretty mountains, the sparkling lakes, or even this stupid border!" the shrine maiden again pointed out the window, up towards the sky where a couple of blue shards were floating. "It's those! The people! The little annoying fairies that constantly tries to fight you, the Kappas that make and sell us stuff, the Onis and their drink offs. Humans and Youkais living together, in one big freaking happy community! It's the people that make up Gensokyo!" she lowered her gaze from the others, her bangs covering her eyes. "And...I'm tired of killing Gensokyo…"

The room became silent. All eyes turned towards the green haired ghost, who also had an expression of shock on her face. She started to nervously scratch the back of her head.

"Jeez, you didn't have to go all melodramatic on me." she sighed and grinned. "Calm down. I happen to agree with you"

"What" Reimu raised her gaze towards the evil spirit.

"What?!" Yukari seethed.

"Well, there doesn't seem to be any other reasonable alternative, Yukari. And this seems like a pretty simple plan. We go in, then kick some ass. Problem solved."

"But-"

"I agree with Reimu as well" Remilia chimed in.

"Oh, what? You too?"

"Yukari, don't be a fool"

"What did you say to me you little flying rat?" Yukari sneered vehemently.

"Even the lowest common Youkai can sense that the distortion is coming from the other side of the boundary. It might sound far fetched, but need I remind you, that when faced with extinction, every alternative is preferable." she narrowed her eyes at the gap youkai, "Believe me when I say that there is no other way."

"…" Yukari did not press any further. It was always a struggle to argue against a person who can read fate on a whim.

"Well then." Remilia stood up. "All who agree with Reimu, please stand" the entire staff of the Scarlet Devil Mansion stood alongside their mistress.

Yuyuko also stood from her seat, along with Youmu.

"Yuyuko?! You too?!" the gap youkai yelled in surprise.

"Eh? But everyone else seems to agree. Plus it sounds like fun!"

"...You can't be serious…" the elder youkai sat there dumbstruck. One of her closest friends just abandoned her and sided with someone against her.

"Well" The green haired ghost floated from her seat, "I already said that I agreed with her. What do you think, Marisa?"

"Hells Yeah,ze!" the witch shot up from her seat. "What about you Alice? Come on, stand up!"

The puppeteer in question heaved out a heavy sigh. "Looks like I have no other choice. This course of action seems to be the only logical one at the moment". And so she stood up next to the witch, who then draped her arm over the puppeteer's shoulder and grinned. The other blonde huffed and looked the other way, but did nothing to push the witch away.

"Yeah! Party time!" Suika roared in excitement and stood up.

Yukari's left eye started to twitch. She turned towards the flying turtle in the room. "Aren't you going to say anything?!"

If he had any shoulders, Genji would've shrugged. "What do you want me to say? You of all people should know how stubborn these Hakurei women are. And besides...I agree with her too."

"Reddie sure knows how to make a convincing argument" Mokou stepped up from the wall she was leaning on and towards the table, signifying her approval.

"It does seem like there is no other option." Keine stepped up as well.

Kaguya looked around her group. Eirin did not stand up, but was still sitting down, arms folded with her eyes closed, and a frown on her face, signifying her disapproval. Reisen and Tewi stood in the back, but had their heads bowed low and did not say anything of approval; wishing not to earn their master's ire.

Kaguya sat in a predicament. Should she stay seated? But everyone else was standing…

After a brief moment of hesitation, the lunar princess stood up from her seat. "Princess?" Reisen questioned.

"Oh? So the Moonbitch does have a brain in there after all…" Mokou teased.

The lunar princess did not reply, but smirked at her other immortal's playful words. The rest of her comrades did not say anything however, and Eirin still sat.

"Everyone…" Reimu smiled at all the people who stood with her.

Yukari sat and gawked at the number of people who stood in opposition towards her. But really, what other choices were there?

"Ugh. Alright fine!" she conceded. "But there needs to be some rules. First of all; the leaders of their respective domains cannot participate. We need all of our leaders to maintain some control over their realms. That means you can't go Yuyuko."

"Ehh… But it sounds so interesting…" the netherrealm queen pouted.

"Dr. Yagokoro cannot come as well, as we need a doctor now more than ever." the lunarian doctor did nothing to argue.

"Awesome! That means I can come along!" the evil spirit cheered.

"No. Mima, your destructive powers are needed here now more than ever to fend off the hollowed youkais."

"Wait, are you for real? How lame to be burdened with such power…" she sighed dramatically. She then quickly grabbed her protege into a massive bear hug, suffocating the black and white witch. "Aww then that means that I have to be separated from my precious Marisa! Just the thought about it makes my heart ache in pain!"

"W-wait! Not in front of Alice! You're embarrassing me Mama-" she stopped herself before she said anything more she would regret. "MIMA! I..uh meant to say….Mima…."

The green haired ghost gasped and released her student. She floated back with her hand pressed to her mouth in shock. "A...ah"

She dived forward again and gave her blonde haired student an even more massive bear hug; squeezing her tighter than before.

"AHHHH! Marisa! You don't know how long I've waited for you to call me that! Come on, call me Mama again." the spirit gushed as she squeezed the life out of the young witch.

"Argh! Master….Stop...it!"

"Aw. No no, call me Mama again. Just like you did a second ago!" Mima teased.

"Not in front of my friends!" Marisa cried.

While holding on to the struggling witch, Mima glanced at the puppeteer awkwardly standing in front of her, and gave her a wink.

" _Take care of my little Marisa for me, will you?"_ she relayed telepathically towards the puppeteer.

Alice blushed at the message, looking away with a huff.

" _As if you even need to ask me that."_ she relayed back to the ghost.

Yukari raised her brow at the painfully awkward scene before her. "So I assume that you are going through the portal, Marisa?" she questioned.

Upon being released by her mentor, the witch gave the elder youkai a smug grin. "Of course! The ordinary magician, Marisa Kirisame, is here to save the day!" she looked back at Alice. "Along with her trusty puppeteer side kick, right Alice?"

Alice stiffened upon being addressed. She looked towards the witch and to the green haired spirit, who in turn gave her a reassuring smile.

"Well, I guess thats alright. Someone has to look after you after all…" she sighed.

"I'll help too!" Suika said and walked up next to the duo.

"I will also be assisting in this operation, along with Sakuya." Remilia turned towards her head maid. "Will that be alright?"

"Of course, my lady. I will follow wherever you go, and make sure you are safe." the head maid bowed low with her hand placed over her chest.

"Good" the vampire nodded. She turned towards her purple anemic friend. "Patchy, I'm leaving you in charge of the Scarlet Devil Mansion while I'm gone. Make sure the fairies are safe, and help around the local communities while you can, ok?"

"I understand." Patchouli bowed low as well, keeping her persona as the Scarlet Devil's underling. "Please be safe" she then asked as the vampire's closest friend.

"You too." Remilia smiled and gave her friend a quick hug. "Sorry to cut into your reading time…"

"Ehh? What?" A new voice suddenly echoed throughout the room. Everyone looked up towards the ceiling where the voice was coming from. In the shadows, a little girl could be seen sitting on top of the support beam. She had on red clothes, and hanging behind her back was the most unusual pair of wings.

"You guys are going to a party, and you didn't invite me?" Flandre pouted. "I wanna come to!" she flew towards the other vampire. Remilia caught the incoming Scarlet vampire, and held her in her arms as the younger vamp cried into her chest.

"I wanna play too! Come on, I promise I'll be a good girl! Please big sis!" Flandre pleaded.

Remilia looked around the room. Currently everyone was at a lost for words. The red shrine maiden shrugged, however the witch gave an urging thumbs up.

The Scarlet master sighed. "I don't see why not. You could actually help us a lot."

"Really?! Yay!" the blonde vampire cheered.

"Now Flan, the people we are going to be playing with are really strong, So I want you to play as much as you want." Remilia encouraged.

"As much as I want?!"

"As much as you want" Remilia repeated while patting her little sister's head.

"Yay!"

"Well, looks like the Scarlets are in. Anyone else?" Yukari asked around the room.

Youmu looked around in hesitation. She looked towards the shrine maiden and back to her master, deciding whether to help the others in their journey, or to stay and defend her Master. The half ghost snapped out of her internal debate when she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder. She looked back at her master, who gave the young ghost an encouraging smile.

"They need you, you know."

"But-"

"No buts. I know you want to protect me, but I can take care of myself. Ole Yuyu still has a bit of battle experience under her belt too you know." She gave her gardener a teasing wink.

"Right now, you are needed with them more then you are with me. You have so much potential, Youmu, it would go to waste if you were to stay here."

The netherrealm queen brought her forehead to the younger ghost's forehead, and wrapped her arms around the slender figure. "I'll miss you though, so come back safely. Ok?"

Youmu's eyes were brimmed with tears. She knew that her master was powerful, but she felt like once she embarked on her journey, she wouldn't see her master for a long time. But she also knew that her friends definitely needed her speed and swordsmanship. She wiped her tears away and reaffirmed her convictions. "Yes, Lady Yuyuko." she stood up and walked towards the rest of the people who volunteered.

Yukari nodded solemnly. "Any others?"

"I'll go" Mokou stepped forward.

"Are you sure?" the Hakutaku inquired.

"Yeah" the immortal nodded. "I can finally put this elixir to good use. I'll be fine" she waved it off. "You stay here and protect the village."

"All right. Be careful."

"Pfft. Aren't I always?" Mokou grinned.

"No. Never" Keine returned the smile.

The immortal started to walk towards the other volunteers, passing through the residents of Eientei.

"Ah, wait! I'll go with yo-" Kaguya was then yanked down back to her seat by the sleeve.

"E-Eirin?"

"You're not going" the lunar doctor said with a tone of finality.

"B-But I can help!"

"You don't understand, this isn't a discussion. I am not in a position to be swayed like someone over here" she glared at Yukari, who in response rolled her eyes.

"I am forbidding you to go." Eirin looked at the Princess with cold dogmatic eyes. She held an aura of one that would not be persuaded by any means.

"Hey doc!" Eirin directed her attention towards the other immortal. "Who are you to tell her what she can or can't do?"

"As her guardian and her caretaker. This does not concern you Fujiwara." The immortal phoenix bared her teeth when she heard the lunarian doctor address her by her family name.

"So what if she wants to help out all of a sudden?! If she wants to go, then let her go! It's better than her just lazing around all day like usual."

"As I said, this does not concern you" Eirin repeated.

"Why do you care? She can't die!"

"You are an even bigger fool than I thought if you think the elixir is the panacea to everything. Death is not the only obstacle to overcome, in case you haven't noticed." the lunar doctor pointed towards one tiny blue shard in the distance. "In fact, it can often be seen as a blessing. So you and the others can go on your suicide trip for all I care, but don't bring the princess along with you"

"Ah, that's too bad" Yukari lamented. "Two Hourai Immortals could bring quite a huge advantage."

Kaguya looked at her mentor pleadingly, with her hands clasped together. "Eirin...please"

"My mind is made up. You're not going." Eirin said, ending the discussion.

Mokou clicked her tongue in frustration, and glanced towards her lunar rival, offering an apologetic look.

"Sorry princess." she turned her back towards her and walked down the room towards the others.

"Well that's unfortunate. So I'm guessing that's about it?" Yukari asked one more time.

"NO!" someone shouted down the hall. The entrance door slammed open, revealing a tired looking ice fairy.

"Cirno…" Rumia whispered.

"I'm going too!" Cirno said with conviction.

"...Have...have you been eavesdropping?" Reimu asked.

"Maybe!"

"Well no one's going to stop you." Yukari then glared again at the lunar doctor, who ignored her shamelessly.

"But...uh...what can you do again?"

"She makes things cold" Mima said sardonically.

"Shut up! I'm going!"

"Yeah yeah, ok. You do realize that none of us can baby sit you right?" Reimu clarified.

"I know! But...I want to help...I don't wanna just sit here and do nothing!"

"Um...how's Dai?" Rumia asked.

The Ice fairy winced at the mention of her friend. "She's doing bad. Which is why I want to help!"

"...All right." Yukari said.

"You sure?" Reimu asked.

"It's her life. And who knows, she may help."

"...Right."Reimu wasn't holding her breath.

"Now obviously I can't come along, since someone has to keep that giant hole in the sky in check. But I can atleast gap you guys to where the distortion is located, or at least as close as possible to where it is. If everyone is ready, then let's go outside." Yukari stated as she was wheeled out of the room. The rest of the occupants soon followed.

**Outside the Scarlet Devil Mansion**

Once they were outside; the group that volunteered started to form one group, while the ones that wished to see the others off formed another.

"All right, once you go through the gap; whatever you do, don't stop. I can only keep the gap active for so long until I lose influence. If you stay still for even a second, you will be stuck in the middle of the boundary forever." Yukari warned. The entire team of volunteers shook a little upon hearing the consequences. "Once you cross through, the rest is up to you to stop the incident, and to find a way home. The fate of Gensokyo rests on your shoulders."

"Is everyone ready?" Reimu asked the others. A resounding 'yes' echoed throughout the entire front of the mansion. However, one person from the onlooking group walked up towards the on going group.

"Rumia?" Reimu asked surprisingly. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going with you!" the youkai of darkness said happily.

"No"

"NO!"

"NO!"

"NO!"

Reimu was surprised to hear three other objections synchronized with her own. Said rejections came from Yukari, Mima, and surprisingly Yuyuko.

"But...why?" A hurt expression appeared on the small black youkai.

"Well Rumia...you are not exactly the...combat type of Youkai. At least Cirno holds some power, even for a fairy" Reimu explained. The ice fairy felt a swell of pride when she heard the mention of her unusual strength.

"B-but" tears started to well up in the small youkai's eyes.

"Please Rumia, try to understand. I can't keep looking out for you the entire time. Be a good girl and stay here, please?" Reimu pleaded with her.

A sudden burst of defiance erupted in the little flesh eating youkai. "Fine!" she yelled out and stomped away, frustrated tears falling down her cheeks.

Reimu shook her head, wishing that the little youkai would not be this difficult. Oh well, she'll apologize to her once she comes back.

"All right Yukari, whenever you are ready" the shrine maiden gave a thumbs up.

The elder youkai heaved out a sigh of relief, content with the events that occurred. She started to muster up all the residual energy, and focused it into making a gap specifically designed to travel to the distortion on the other side of the boundary.

Above the clouds, near the purple vortex was another ripple in space forming in the air. Only difference was that inside the border were numerous eyeballs peering out and a stylish purple ribbon tied to the ends of the gap.

The Youkai sage started to feel a pulsating pain echoing in her head; her hands started to shake and her teeth clenched tight.

"All right..it's...open…" Yukari said, obviously in tremendous amount of mental stress and pain.

…

Around the back of the massive gate to the mansion, Kaguya Houraisan was sitting with her back to the brick structure, sulking about not being able to go.

"Stupid Eirin. Telling me to not go…" she whispered to herself in anger.

" _Sorry princess…"_ the memory of her rival flashed in her mind.

"Its not fair...I wanted to go with you too."

Her miserable venting was suddenly interrupted by the sound of someone stomping in the general vicinity, along with several angry whispers of their own.

"Stupid Reimu...telling me to not go….stupid Yukari….stupid Mima…."

The princess turned and peeked around the corner of the gate she was hiding at. What she saw was Rumia frantically wiping away her tears, while sitting down on the grass.

"It's not fair...it's not fair…" she repeated over and over again.

"You're right, it is not fair" Rumia heard a voice call out from behind her. When she looked around, she saw the lunar princess walking towards her.

Kaguya looked around the area. The entire land of Gensokyo still had a disturbing lack of sunlight. Perfect.

"So, I've got an idea that might help the both of us. Wanna hear me out?" she winked at the small youkai.

 

 ...

 

"All right! Let's go,ze!" Marisa was the first one to take to the sky.

"Hey! Wait up for me!" Alice soon followed right after.

And soon, the operation went underway. One by one, each combatant rose up into the air towards the gap that would bring them to the source of their troubles.

Down below, the ones that stayed behind started to wave good byes, and shouted blessings to their adventurers. Eirin on the other hand, was silently standing in the back, not saying a word.

The princess was sure being quiet. Maybe she was a little too hard on her, but she did not regret her decision for a second. Still, she supposed an apology was in order at least. She then went to the spot she last saw the immortal sulking in, but once she turned the corner, she saw no one there.

"Hey! Where's the princess?!" she called out to her rabbits. Reisen and Tewi shrugged.

She started to panic. She closed her eyes and honed in on the other Hourai's presence. She sensed the other Lunarian's essence somewhere in the sky, near….oh no.

She rushed out of the gate to where the others were standing, and peered out into the horizon, to where the combatants were heading. In the camouflage of darkness, she spotted a black floating ball flying towards the two borders. She sensed two presences in the swirling black ball, one was the maker of the ball, and the other was...

" _Reimu!"_

_"Mokou wait!"_

"Princess!" she shouted.

The others soon caught sight of the swirling ball of darkness.

"Oh shit…" the green haired ghost cursed.

…

"Yahoo!" the blonde witch bellowed as she passed through Yukari's gap.

"Wait!" Alice screamed, and soon followed into the border. Soon after, the scarlet sisters and the maid passed through. One by one, each of the volunteers started to pass through.

…

"Oh no!" Yuyuko said, horrified to see the youkai of darkness homing in on the boundary.

Yukari grunted in frustration, but said nothing else, choosing to focus on keeping up her border, while keeping the other border in control. Such a task was too tiring for her to vent.

The lunarian doctor conjured up her bow and arrow, and took aim at the concentrating youkai in the wheelchair. "Call off the border now!"

Patchouli then teleported in front of Yukari, blocking her from the frantic doctor. "Stop. If she closes the border now, then those who entered are trapped in the boundary forever."

The others started to surround the lunarian; Meiling got into her combat stance, Mima aimed her pole at the doctor, Yuyuko summoned her giant fan, and even Reisen and Tewi turned their hand gun and hammer on her.

…

Everyone else has already passed through the border that Yukari had created. Reimu was the last one of the group, but before she passed through the gap she heard a distinct voice calling out to her.

_"Reimu!"_

"Rumia…?" she turned her head slightly, but stopped herself. _No, now's not the time. Keep moving, keep moving._ She passed through the border without a second to spare, aware of the consequences if she were to stop moving.

…

They soon saw the black orb passing through the gap, and into the boundary. The gap soon closed slowly thereafter, permitting no one else from entering. A few minutes later, Yukari nearly blacked out in her wheelchair from the overexertion of energy she used. She heaved over her lap and allowed herself to slip into unconsciousness for a few seconds. However after she had done so, the other Gap above the clouds started to quickly expand. Yukari quickly snapped herself awake, and proceeded to control the other gap from growing.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it…"she growled to herself. Oh how she wanted to just fall asleep already.

The others were just as frustrated as the elder youkai was. Mima slammed the butt of her rod down onto the ground in frustration, causing the earth to shake and the trees to sway.

"Dammit. She's gone…" she grieved.

The lunarian doctor fell to the floor on her knees. "The princess….she's gone…"

"Not her you idiot!" the green haired spirit snapped.

"We actually meant…" Yuyuko looked at Yukari, who then sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Can this day get any worse?" she asked rhetorically.

_Meanwhile_

**Near the Garden of the Sun **

The mad youkai giggled as she knocked back a couple more hollowed out youkais into the air with her umbrella, and proceeded to obliterate them with a blinding ray of pure energy.

"Wooow! This sure is fun!" she roundhouse kicked a feral fairy across the face, sending it to the other side of the garden, and caught one of the corpse like youkais by the neck, crushed it into dust, dropping the remains on the floor and stomping it into powder.

"But...there's still...eh?" she looked over at the horizon. A couple of miles away from her, she caught sight of a tiny black ball floating upwards into the swirling vortex.

"Ah, so the little flesh eating youkai is going on a little adventure." an excited grin started to form on the sadistic creature's face. "Let's see what she's up to."

Yuuka took to the skies. Once she was at the top of the clouds, she soon saw the giant purple vortex as clear as day, no longer hidden by the dark clouds. She then plunged into the dark swirling ripple incautiously, with the intent of discovering what other interesting events waited for her.

* * *

_Extra_

Above the clouds, a blue haired celestial roamed the skies, searching for a certain green haired youkai. She growled in frustration, she hasn't seen her in three weeks, and she was having no luck in tracking her down where she usually resided. She scoured over the garden of the sun, but found no green haired youkai.

"What the hells? Iku said that she saw her around here...where is she?!" she screamed as she gathered a fistful of her own blue hair and tugged, the painful sensation somewhat alleviating her. Once she was about to give up though, she spotted her target floating towards the massive purple gap in the sky.

"Lady Yuuka!" she screamed after her, flying towards the exact same location. "Wait for me!" Tenshi then flew into the boundary, hoping to catch up to the green haired Youkai.


	4. Prologue

 

**Prologue**

 

Reimu was sure she heard a voice calling out to her. Probably just one of her peers wishing her luck. Still she wanted to look back to see who it was, but she didn't want to risk spending a spare second stalling, aware that the slightest dilly dallying could result in her floating in the boundary for all eternity. And so she flew forward and stared into the maw of Yukari's border. Between the rip in space adorned with purple ribbons, she saw the familiar sets of eyeballs floating in the void, almost looking as if they were pleading her to hasten herself.

And so she did.

Once she got past the ribbons however, a sudden lack of vertigo filled her entire being. A sudden feeling of lightheadedness pounded her head. As she flew forward in the void, she could literally feel reality distorting around her, which immediately caught her attention and set alarms up in her head.

_Somethings not right…_

That much is certain. Usually when she was in one of Yukari's gaps, Yukari at least tried to make the trip seem as normal as possible. But this...this was just wrong. The air felt different, sound properties were not the same, and she felt like her body was tearing itself apart.

"Yo Reddie!" a distant echo caught her ears. Way ahead of the group, she saw the image of Marisa casually lying back on broom with her arms crossed behind her head. She gave a cocky grin and winked.

"C'mon you slow poke. Aren't you supposed to be the faster one?" she taunted. It took a while, but the sound did manage to make it to the shrine maiden's ears. Yep, the sound was definitely weaker here. At least Marisa is keeping herself occupied, trying to strike up chit chat with the others, even if the conversations were delayed and gargled.

Then Reimu looked at the various eyes floating around her, and noticed something different.

_Ahh...I see…_

The glowing eyeballs, once pure and visibly majestic, were now riddled with red veins of bloodshot. The iris was only a small dot compared to usual. Now it made sense, Yukari was struggling to hold their presence within her gap, and could do little to ease the trip through…

The air around her started to become tainted. The air she breathed in was literally more seithr than normal oxygen. What was once gargled and distant sounds became eerie silence. The feeling of being torn apart only increased tenfold at that moment…

The trip through the boundary. Reimu grinded her teeth, but flew forward, not stopping. Through glazed and weary eyes, she could still make out the appearance of her fellow comrades flying in front of her. It seemed as though they too were struggling against the boundary's unpleasant environment. Hell, even Mokou had a pained grimace on her face.

_Don't stop….Don't stop!_

Just as she thought that, the eyeballs around her started to expand. The pupils then spewed out what looked to be like blood, and kept expanding and expanding until they popped one by one.

Reimu's eyes widened in shock.

The entire area started to shake. The void started to break like glass, and soon shattered, revealing a background not of the purple atmosphere of Yukari's normal gaps, but of pure black. Once the gap was broken, her comrades fell out of sync in their flights. Though there were no sounds, she could see the faces of her friends screaming in fear.

_"Shit! Marisa, Youmu! Everyone!"_ she moved her mouth, but no sound came out. That's right. There was no sounds. There were no particles in the air around her for them to vibrate in order to make sounds. There were no air for particles to be had. There was just utter...nothingness. A void filled with nothing but Seithr. They truly were in the boundary.

Her mouth moved again, only for soundless gasps to escape into the void.

 

Yukari's gap has failed them. Her influence has been distorted and fell soon after. In the distance, her friends started to fall out into the background. One by one, her fellow adventurers, her friends, started to float into the dark void helplessly until they were consumed by the darkness that surrounded them. Each of their faces spoke of true terror. Cirno was flailing her arms in hysteria while crying out non audible pleas for help. Remilia tried her very best to keep her calm composure, but it was undeniable that she was surprised at the current situation. Little Flandre on the other hand was crying hysterically, holding onto her older sister by the arm. Sakuya was doing her very best to stay close to the Scarlet siblings, but it was in vain as she was slowly moving away from them. Suika was an exception, as she looked plastered as ever. Youmu was one of the more stoic ones of the group, she narrowed her eyes at the predicament and willed herself to stay in place. Alas it was for naught as she too was also starting to slip away from the group. Mokou fared no better, for although she knew death would not take her, she was still scared at being trapped in the dark void. Even Marisa, the heart and soul of their group had a look of utter shock. With one hand, she held onto her broom, while the other was hanging on Alice's hand.

Somehow she knew that this little operation was going to screw up. It was a pretty stupid plan, no one denied that back at the Scarlet Devil Mansion. She just never expected things would fall apart this quickly. She looked around, but saw no one. All of her allies were taken in and swallowed up by the darkness of this abyss. Now she was all alone, floating in what was considered to be worse than hell. At Least Shinki was nice to her there….

For what felt like an eternity was in actuality only a couple of minutes. The couple of seconds she floated in the edge felt like hours to her. Reimu felt her will slowly breaking, her soul expiring. The crushing sensation in her head now encompassed her entire body. It was definitely painful both in a physical and mental sense. Also spiritual too. But one adjective she would take to describe what she felt above all else was….odd. It felt as though a thousand timelines were convulsing onto her, like a sort of extremely claustrophobic feeling.

_Wh-t is t-is? M- Bo-y fe-ls wei-d…(What is this? My Body feels weird)_

Oh great, she was losing her mind too. Her sense of speech was starting to falter. Awesome. She wonders how the rest of her friends are faring. She hoped that they weren't hurting as she was right now.

_Th-s H-rts…So-meone...Help…(This hurts…Someone…Help)_

As soon as she started to lose all hope, everything turned white. As soon as she knew it, she started to feel a little sense of vertigo back. She opened her eyes to see that she was falling from a clear blue sky. Falling at quite a speed too. She should probably stop, she told herself, but she was just so damn tired that she didn't have the energy to quell the momentum. And so she just closed her eyes and hoped that the ground would be kind to her face. She took worse things before, so she wasn't worried about her durability. The last thing she saw before closing her eyes was the thing she was falling towards; a colossal city perched on top of a giant mountain, which was getting closer and closer by the second.

…

In the sky was what looked like a comet falling towards the ground. Said object crashed into ground in a huge cloud of smoke.

"...ow"

Reimu quickly pushed herself from the hard pavement of the floor she crashed into, and breathed in a fresh supply of much needed oxygen, her first real breath ever since leaving that hell. She had no idea how in the world she left the boundary. All she remembered was her floating in the dark for god knows how long in her mind, until everything went white.

_I guess I've arrived to my location..._

She looked around to survey her new environment. As far as she could tell, it was a huge dump. She was in the middle of a rundown city block. Almost all of the buildings looked crumbled and broken down. A lot of the walls had huge portions missing, some looked as though they were under construction, although she couldn't tell if any officials were looking to finish anytime soon, as they looked really old and worn out. Bits and pieces of concrete littered the floor; some of them were from the pavement from which she crashed onto. Some was from the buildings themselves. Well, at least she could already confirm that this dimension had some sort of sentience for shelter, although not much. The place didn't look alien at all to the shrine maiden, just a really broken down city block that could be easily mistaken for the outside world.

_Almost_

If not for the huge amount of seithr she sensed within the air. Well, now she knows she's definitely where the heart of the problem is. She calmly got up to her feet and casually brushed bits of dust and rocks from her huge sleeves.

"Whoever you are, you'd better come out already. I'm not in the best of moods." she called out.

From the shadows stepped forth a young boy dressed in the lamest set of clothes Reimu had ever laid eyes on. A top hat with boy shorts, glasses, and a cape to top it off? What in the world…

"You look like a dork…" she pointed out bluntly.

"Y-you...fell from…the sky…" The boy pointed towards her timidly.

Reimu scratched the back of her head at his response. "Well, aren't we just stating the obvious to each other...hm?" she raised one of her brows when her eyes fell upon the tall figure standing next to the boy.

"Huh, I knew I sensed more than just one presence, but I actually expected something a little more...I don't know, human?"

Apparently that statement was enough to make the boy bare his teeth in anger.

"Don't you talk that way about my sister!"

His sister? This boy wasn't right in the head. Even Alice wasn't this intimate to her dolls like this kid was.

"Whoa let's just calm down kid" she could sense an emanating wave of killing intent coming from the boy. "I don't want to hurt you…"

"Oh, I'm not the one you should be worrying about ma'am...Huh? What's that sis?" He turned his attention towards the doll, as if the thing was actually saying something to him. It wasn't; not a single sound was uttered, nor was a single motion made to even signify any sort of communication.

"Uh huh….uh huh….Is that right sis?" Yet he was talking to it like he was having an actual conversation.

**BGM: Marionette Purple**

"So you say she shouldn't be here sis? You're saying we should do something about her?"

"..." The doll did not emit any sort of sound at the question.

"..." A sweat drop started to form on Reimu's head. Forget not right in the head, this kid was downright insane!

"Ah, alright sis, if that's that what you think." He turned his attention back towards the shrine maiden. "My apologies, but it seems as though my sister has a problem with you."

Reimu sighed. "Look kid, why don't you and your doll go play with someone else, I'm kinda busy right here-"

Carl didn't wait for the girl to finish her statement, as he shot forth a metal pole from underneath his cloak right towards the shrine maiden's face. Reimu easily caught the metal contraption in her hand and yanked it back, pulling the boy towards her. Once the kid was close enough, she decked him right in the nose. The force of Reimu's right hook sent the poor boy flying into a nearby building, sending fresh cracks down it's wall to add to the old ones that were already present.

"O-ow…" blood started to drip from his nostrils, his glasses were partially cracked. "S-sis…" he pleaded to the doll in a high pitched voice laced with pain. The doll actually moved to Reimu's surprise. It nodded and rushed at her at a surprising speed.

" _Whoa, she's fast"_ Reimu thought as she narrowly ducked a huge horizontal swipe from the mechanical woman. She sidestepped two more attacks, and blocked a third strike aimed for her midsection with her Gohei wand.

" _But I'm faster"_ she quickly jumped on top of the doll's shoulder into the air, and threw four Ofuda charms, each one of them exploding onto the doll. She hovered in the air for a moment to survey the results of her counter attack. For a second, everything was quiet, nothing noticeable but a huge cloud of smoke where she threw her charms. However, without a moment's notice, the doll jumped up into the air and continued it's assault. After trading blows with the doll, she noticed an opening on the doll's defense and capitalized on it. The doll lunged itself forward a bit too much, revealing the back of its head to Reimu, who easily dodged it's attack. Reimu proceeded to flip in the air, and smashed the doll's head with the back of her foot, sending the doll plummeting back to the ground.

Once the debris cleared, Reimu saw the doll lying on the ground motionless.

"Sis!" the boy cried out.

Reimu sighed again at the so called "vigilante" as she slowly descended to the ground. "I told ya not to bug me kid. Don't blame me now that your toy is broken on the ground."

The boy weakly got up from the crater he was laying against, holding his broken arm in a weak grasp. "Get up, Sis!"

As soon as he said that, the doll slowly got up, looking fresh and renewed.

"A self-regenerating doll?" Reimu thought out loud. _"That could be a problem. Well then…"_

The doll soon stood up fully and lunged again at the shrine maiden, only difference this time was that it managed to land a direct hit on the girl. The machine's right arm was now inserted through the abdomen of the red and white Miko, and was protruding out of her stomach.

The boy jumped up in joy. "You did it sis!" However, his joy was short lived.

The body dangling from the doll's hand suddenly separated itself into thousands of small ofuda charms and started to encircle Nirvana.

**BGM: Maiden's Capriccio (Morrigan Cosmic Medium)**

The streams of papers stayed swirling around for a second before dispersing, revealing the shrine maiden standing unharmed with her arms folded. Behind her was the purple doll hanging in the air; it's limbs outstretched and binded by glowing zigzag paper streams similar to the ones hanging from the Miko's Gohei, coming out of what looked to be floating yin yang orbs.

The young vigilante fell on his bottom and moved back in fear as the shrine maiden walked forward menacingly towards him. Each step she took increased the boy's heartbeat, each inch she got closer only caused his breath to quicken. Soon though, he bumped his back into the wall he recently crashed into. He had nowhere else to go. The doll started to wriggle and thrash about in vain, tugging at the paper streams in order to break free to protect it's master. Soon the red and white shrine maiden towered over the sitting boy, her face expressionless and her body language just screamed out "annoyed".

"If I can't break the toy," she pulled out a couple of charms from her sleeves, and held them up to her face, "then I guess the only thing left to break is the owner…"

The boy gulped audibly, clearly scared out of his wits. Well, he guessed that if there was a time and place to plead for mercy, it might as well have been right then and there.

"Eh-Um you could always, you know, not break anything...ri-"

Reimu denied him the ability to finish his sentence, as she quickly swung down the paper in her hand down on the ground right in front of where the vigilante was sitting. The red and white piece of paper then erupted in a blinding and deafening explosion; one that lit up and shook the entire city block.

Reimu walked out of the smoke with an expression of disappointment.

"Hmph, What a poor excuse of a puppeteer's power...hm?" she noticed the purple top hat the kid was wearing lying right next to her feet. Probably must have blown right off his head when she blasted him. She casually picked it up and started to examine it. A few scuffs and scratches here and there, but overall it seemed to be in good condition. She looked around to see if anyone was nearby to see her, but after a few glances around her position, she concluded that no one else was around. She hesitantly placed the top hat on top of her head and went to the nearest sidewalk to take a look at one of the glass windows to look at her reflection.

"Lame…" she judged to herself.

With that, she casually tossed the hat aside into the air. The hat floated in the air and soon settled back down to the ground; right next to a pair of legs wearing purple shoes sticking out of a pile of rubble.

"...s-sis...?" a voice meekly cried out underneath the rocks and concrete.

Well that was a total waste of time. Not like the kid managed to land a hit on her her or tire her out in any way, but it was still precious time wasted on something that didn't even prove to be a warm up.

" _I should probably start looking around"_ she decided, and took to the skies.

 


	5. Lost Faith

...

**(BGM: Blazblue: Blue beating)**

…

**Reimu Hakurei**

Drive: Yin Yang Orb

Age: 17

Height: 5'5 ft

Weight: 47 kg

Blood type: B

* * *

Affiliation: Hakurei Shrine

Position: Shrine Maiden

Relatives: Miko Hakurei (Mother), Genji (Caretaker, trainer)

Hobbies: Hanging around the shrine, Danmaku Duels.

Values: Gensokyo, Friends

Likes: Donations

Dislikes: Cheapskates

Natural Enemy: Yūki Terumi

Theme: HM Reimu's Theme: Spring Lane ~ Colorful Path

Unlimited Theme: 博麗 霊夢／少女綺想曲 〜Dream Battle (Maiden's capriccio by CarrotWine)

Power: ****/6

Defense: ****/6

Speed: ****/6

_The current shrine maiden of the Hakurei lineage. Not much is known of her past, but what is known is that her duty is to keep and maintain balance in Gensokyo. When the seithr corruption spread across the land, she was tasked to lead a small strike force to the source of the distortion. However, she was separated from her group along the way to the mysterious world. Not long after waking up in her new environment, she got into a fight with a purple clad bounty hunter, and easily finished him off. Now lost and confused, Reimu is determined to solve this incident as quickly as possible and rendezvous with the rest of her group, wherever they are.._

**Risk Rating: S**

**...**

**Lost Faith**

**Bascule**

"Stupid Cops!"

Not even a full hour into this new world, and she already had trouble with the authority. After her little "scuffle" with the purple puppeteer, if one could even call it that, she found a more populated section of the city across a large bascule bridge. It looked like a market place; everywhere she looked, she saw stands that sold something. Fruits, Weapons, Clothes, even Dogs. Did she say dogs? Because there was one dog in particular that kept barking nonstop in the background. The "arf's" were literally ingrained in her entire being, and will probably plague her mind for days to come.

She did feel a little out of place being the only one flying in the sky, and apparently for good reason. One minute she was just minding her own business, floating above all the citizens, then the next thing she knew, a voice echoed throughout the air as some jackass in blue started to yell at her through a microphone. Something about "Use of levitation Ars being restricted" and "Level D alert" or some crap like that. As one would expect, this irritated Reimu a little. She got into a straight yelling match with the blue uniform, so much so that he had to call reinforcements to get her to come down. On several occasions, Reimu had to quell the urge to pull out her charms and blow them up. She decided that getting the official authority's attention would cause her more delay and troubles, and would have preferred a more discrete way of solving this incident. So here she was, grudgingly walking on the ground, pushing through crowds of pedestrians. What caught her off guard while walking around was the number of non-humans walking around with her. There were lots of humanoids, but some with animal parts here and there. Examples she found included one person with a human body, but had the head and neck of a giraffe. Another was from a slouched figure with a mask on, but had the tail of a monkey hanging behind him. Were they some form of Youkai? No, she felt no magic coming from them. It almost felt more...scientific more than spiritual.

"Now that's strange. Youkais bred from science and experimentation?" she closed her eyes and sighed loudly, "Man, do I hate science". She suddenly bumped into something, something...hard.

"Ah, sorry about tha-" her jaw dropped when she looked up at the thing she suddenly walked into. "That….whoa"

**BGM: Motor Head**

In front of her was a bulky red giant towering over her. The thing had black spiky hair with white streaks running through it and had on a huge red sleeveless top, wearing massive black iron like gauntlets, and had a pair of little orange glasses hanging from his face. Overall, this...whatever it was, looked intimidating.

"Hm?" he looked around before looking down at her, almost like he was analyzing her. "You're...a shrine maiden. I didn't even know there was a shrine located in Kagutsuchi. Forgive me, but I have no donations that I can offer to you at the moment."

Reimu felt her vein pop at that. "Who said I even asked?!"

Why does everyone think that shrine maidens are just people begging for donations? Granted, maybe she wouldn't be the best person to use as an example, but it's still messed up. While she was stuck in her thoughts, she overheard some of the pedestrians walking by saying something.

"Hey, isn't that Sector Seven's Red Devil?" one onlooker said.

"Yeah, it is! It's him! It's the Red Devil!" another one whispered in awe.

Red Devil? Oni? Granted, he sure looked like one, but he definitely didn't feel like one. Reimu took a good look at him, analyzing the giant for herself. It was massive, but it didn't feel organic. He felt more like a machine then a man.

"My apologies, I meant no disrespect to a lady of faith. Well then, I'll be on my way….hm?" The giant suddenly pressed his giant fingers to his ear, as if someone was relaying a message to him. "What's wrong Kokonoe?" he asked in a confused voice.

"Uh, everything ok?"

"Calm down Kokonoe, you're not making any sense to me here."

" _Who the hell is she?! What is she doing here?! This isn't supposed to happen!"_ A static laced voice screamed into Tager's communicator. " _Is this some sort of Phenomena Intervention?!"_

"Kokonoe!"

"Uh…" sweat drops started to form on Reimu's head. Currently from her viewpoint, it looked like the red giant was screaming to himself in a startled and confused manner. "I'll be going now then…" With that, Reimu turned away from the so called "Red Devil" and started to walk in the other direction.

" _Tager, listen to me. New objective; apprehend and detain the phenomenon. Eliminate her if you must!"_

"Kokonoe...I don't know-"

" _The freaking Shrine Maiden! Pursue her!"_

Tager growled in frustration at the current situation.

" _Tager, repeat the order…."_ the voice all but growled.

"Roger, pursuing target."

…

Why is everyone in this world either really annoying or really weird? She was starting to wonder that a lot in the short amount of time she was here. That wasn't a good sign. You want to know what else isn't a good sign? The creeping sensation of your instincts telling you that a big metal black hand was inching towards your body to grab you.

"?!"

Reimu quickly ducked underneath the massive black hands, and backflipped away, kicking the gauntlets away with her foot and jumping back a few feet to see the same Red Devil she ran into not too long ago.

"What the hell was that for?!"

"Ugh." He wished he could answer her, but even he didn't know why he was pursuing her. Blast it all, Kokonoe..

"Forgive me, but I must ask you to comply and come with me to Sector Seven."

Reimu scoffed. "Yeah right!" Not even fifty minutes in this new world, and apparently some unknown faction wants her? Has she been figured out that quickly?

"And let me guess…" she raised her Gohei in a defensive stance. "You're going to use force if I don't comply, right?"

Tager also raised his gauntlets in a fighting position. "I would rather avoid bloodshed, especially against a shrine maiden of all people…"

"Oh?" Reimu smiled at the irony of his statement. "Lucky for you, I'm no ordinary Shrine Maiden."

"I had hoped it wouldn't come to this…" Tager then prepared himself for the coming battle.

Once her inner battle clock started ticking, Reimu sped forward in a blur towards the red giant. The collision of those two colliding was enough to cause a visible shockwave through the air. At the first signs of combat, most of the pedestrians cleared away from the area, aside for a few individuals crazy enough to watch the battle, including that damn dog too.

The shrine maiden sped towards him at such an extraordinary speed, that Tager almost didn't have enough time to react. Before the blow, he managed to raise both of his hands to where the girl was aiming, and blocked her hyper accelerated punch with both of his gauntlets in front of his chest.

"A-amazing." he said while struggling with holding back her punch.

Reimu brought up her other arm to grab one of the Red Devil's arms. She managed to get a good grip with both of her hands quickly enough before the giant could react, and used her unusual strength to throw the entire massive cyborg over her shoulder into the air. The giant screamed in alarm as he flew in the air. After throwing the mechanical monster up, Reimu quickly flew to where he was, and delivered a swift kick into his abdomen, launching him into several nearby buildings. Upon collision, the buildings crumbled like sand castles as he flew through each of them, until he finally crashed with a resounding boom.

Reimu flew towards where he landed, but still remained in the air. When she got near enough, she could see the giant getting up from the pile of rubble. Upon closer inspection, she could also make out that even after such heavy abuse, other than a slight daze he doesn't seem to have suffered that much damage.

"What's wrong 'Red Devil'? Is this really the true extent of an Oni's strength?" Reimu goaded in the air.

Tager ignored the girl's taunts as he ran through his systematic scan.

Sensory units, functioning...

Self Repair function, still intact..

Motor functions, undamaged…

"It's kinda weird" Reimu smiled as her thoughts drifted to Suika. "I know a little girl who's more of a Oni." she laughed to herself as she whispered the last part. Tager's advanced auditory senses picked up the insult though.

"..."

It's not like he was getting angry or anything like that from something so juvenile. He didn't even have any intimate feelings for his title that people branded him with. But there was a level of tolerance one person can take.

So with a hint of prejudice, Tager brought both of his arms close to his chest, and started to gather yellow electrical energy in between the palms of his hand. Once he charged enough for a shot, he looked up and took aim at the red and white shrine maiden.

" **Spark Bolt!** ", he brought forth both of his arms and shot the ball of energy he collected at Reimu.

Reimu raised her eyebrow in amusement at the incoming yellow sphere flying towards her. Such a thing was laughable compared to what she had witnessed in her rounds of Danmaku battles back in Gensokyo. The thing was slow, large, bland, unstylish, predictable, and worst of all, there was only one of it.

" _Childsplay."_ she thought to herself.

So as soon as the blast of charged electricity was about to hit her, she skillfully and elegantly dodged it, allowing a bit of a graze against it for style points. However something weird started to happen. Once the spark bolt touched the area where it grazed past her, her entire being started to feel all tingly, like she was somehow magnetically charged.

"What in the world?"

Once he confirmed that the attack landed, Tager raised one of his arms in the air as yellow colored energy started to gather towards his palm. Reimu started to feel her body being pulled towards the glowing black gauntlet of the giant unwillingly. She tried to stay stationary to where she was, but it was in vain, as she was still moving closer and closer to the cyborg.

"Wha-what magic is this?"

"This is no magic, this is the power..." Once the shrine maiden got close enough, he managed to grab her entire body in his cold and black fingers.

"Of Science!" He then slammed his adversary into the ground with enough strength to cause the shrine maiden to bounce off the ground upon impact.

"Ouch!"

Which allowed Tager a window of opportunity to land one more attack. The Red Devil crouched down low, and started to charge magnetic energy into his body, which started to emit a yellow color. Once a sufficient amount of force was packed, he rammed his entire being against the shrine maiden as she was falling down from the ground bounce. Reimu flew a couple of feet away, but she again started to feel the strange sensation of her body being pulled towards her opponent.

"Damn."

She quickly got to her feet and rushed at the devil in hopes of suffocating him with a constant barrage of attacks until he submits. She threw a few powered up charms in order to keep the giant blocking so she can get in to continue the pressure.

Tager indeed blocked all of the charms with little to no damage taken, but soon found the shrine maiden floating in front of him. He brought both of his arms up in front of his face to block the overhead swipe of the shrine maiden's gohei wand. The brunette then launched a flurry of swipes and kicks at the cyborg, in hopes of pressuring him into submission. However, she found that all of her attacks that were aimed for the vital spots were all met with Tager's colossal arms. She continued her assault anyways. He was bound to tire himself out sooner or later. It seems not to be the case however, as the cyborg was proving himself adept at defensive play by keeping the priestess at bay for such a long time. In fact, Reimu found her attacks to be more reckless as time passed on. Her strikes with the gohei wand were more frustrated, and her kicks were more careless. Tager capitalized on this and soon saw an opening in her offense. In that split second, he raised both his arms in a mighty uppercut to her chin, managing to knock Reimu up in into the air. As she was falling down back to his height, Tager raised back his arm, and began charging up more magnetic electrical energy. Once his gauge reached full, Tager then slammed his giant fist against the priestess with a heavy punch.

The force of the attack was enough to send the Hakurei maiden flying across to the other end of the city block, where levels of hard concrete were waiting for her. The impact sent fresh cracks rippling into the side of the building.

No groan or pained moans escaped her lips as she rose from the rubble. The only emotions that could be easily conveyed are the look of annoyance and conviction that was now etched on her face. She slowly and calmly placed her hand against her out of shape back, and proceeded to push it back into place until she heard a resounding crack.

_Gonna feel that in the morning…_

Alright, no more playing around. Her enemy appears to be the more intelligent type of person. Yet he had made one of the dumbest moves a person could make. He pissed her off. Such an action warrants a rough and painful consequence.

So far a change of approach needs to happen, as sheer aggressive force wasn't exactly tipping the scales of battle into her favor. She can't get in properly, as her foe's martial arts defense was on par with the likes of Meiling and Byakuren. She can't exactly fly away either at the moment. Already she could feel the strange pulling sensation of her electrons moving towards the hulky crimson goliath.

The aggressive approach is out of the question. The range game is no longer viable now. Fine then, no problem. She'll use the underhanded approach.

Reimu crouched to the ground on one knee to feign fatigue, but she sneakily brought down one hand to the ground and chanted something under her breath.

Once Tager saw his opponent on her knee in exhaustion, he decided to end this pointless battle with one strike. He raised one hand forward, and started to channel magnetic energy from his palm. Reimu started to feel a large current throughout her body, her being already being pulled without her consent. Perfect.

Reimu had a glimmer in her eye as she sped forward along with the magnetic current pushing her, making her move at a frightening speed. Tager was startled at this unexpectedly brash approach. Does she have a death wish? Nevertheless, he still continued with his course of action. He held up his hand and continued to pull her in. If she wanted to make his job easier, who was he to complain?

The distance between the two combatants were diminishing at an alarming rate. To the normal human eye, one could even barely see the outline of the shrine maiden as she was homing in on the giant. Tager's advanced optical sensor is well built so that wasn't a problem. The battle was about to end. All probabilities favored his victory. He was ready.

And so was she.

" _All right, just a little…"_ Tager thought.

" _Bit more…"_ Reimu thought.

The girl finally got close enough for Tager to grab her.

"Got you!"

But before his fingers could close around her…

"What the...?!"

In the blink of an eye, Reimu phased out of existence at that very instance, leaving nothing but thin air for Tager to grab.

**BGM: HM Reimu's Theme: Spring Lane ~ Colorful Path**

"You dodged?!" Tager said astonishly.

"Uhh, duh?" he heard the girl's voice behind his head. When he turned around, he was met with a swift and fierce kick in the face, launching him to where Reimu was lying moments ago. Where she left a hidden surprise for him.

"Got you" Reimu said with a smug grin.

Once Tager flew near the area where she crouched down before, he was immediately stopped by some unknown force in the air as he felt energy rising from where his feet was. He looked down and saw what looked to be a red and white slip of paper.

" **Duplex Barrier"** Reimu whispered as she held up a green skill card between her index finger and her middle finger.

Immediately, glass like glowing walls erected itself on all sides of Tager, leaving him stuck in a glowing cage. Tager tried to punch one wall in front of him, but when his hand got into contact with the barrier, he got flung back painfully into the wall behind him, causing more pain upon impact.

"Gah! What is this?!"

Energy started to surround him once again, as blinding light started to shine from the red and white amulet on the ground. A powerful torrent of white energy then erupted inside the barrier, creating a pillar of light that reached the clouds. Reimu turned around, and with a snap of her finger, the barrier exploded in an even brighter, louder and more devastating explosion.

Reimu looked around to see the result of her destruction. When the smoke cleared, all she saw was the Red Devil lying face down on the ground, barely moving.

"Ugh..." Tager tried to stand, but only had enough energy to get on one knee. He looked like a wreck, his red attire had rips and tears. The metal armor pieces he had were either cracked or heavily dented. Electrical fissures were sprouting out of various parts of his body. His glasses were cracked too, and his gauntlets were heavily damaged.

" _Tager! What happened? What's your status?"_ The familiar buzzing voice rang in his ear.

"Ugh! Ah, Damage levels have reached critical limits...Damn, I've never seen this kind of power before…"

Reimu looked at the mechanical beast on his knees. She could not feel the distortion she felt back at Gensokyo coming from the man. This "Red Devil" seemed to have nothing to do with the incident. Still though, he was an obstacle on her quest that attacked first.

"Red Devil. Let this be a warning to you and your organization. Stay out of my way." She warned.

" _You bitch...Who the hell are you?!"_ a static laced voice rang in her ears.

A telepathy spell? No this felt more…mechanical. "I'm guessing you're the dude's boss? No matter, I have a question for you."

" _Why the hell would I answer to you?! What are you anyway? Your presence here does not seem to be compatible with my data"_

"Oh, that probably would be because I'm not from your world or universe, or whatever." Reimu shrugged.

" _What?!"_

"But more importantly, I want to know...Do you know anything about Gensokyo?"

" _What in the world is a gensokyo?"_ the voice answered back. Drat, she doesn't seem to have anything important to tell her. This whole battle had been one giant waste of time then.

"Oh well…"Reimu sighed. "Whatever, just stay out of my way. I don't need any more of your soldiers following me around. Now I don't know what your deal with me is, but I-"

"Hey, you!" an authoritative voice said.

When Tager and Reimu looked around, they soon spotted a band of blue colored soldiers coming at them, and in front of the platoon was a person in white robes with a white mask that had a huge eyeball on the front under the hood.

"Shit…" Reimu cursed, and ran away from the scene before the guards could recognize her.

"Wait!" Tager shouted at her, but was too late. The red and white shrine maiden was no where to be found, already lost in the crowd somewhere.

"Grr...I'm sorry Kokonoe." he lamented to his superior.

" _Save it, you have more problems to worry about.."_

Tager's internal repair system restored enough of his motor functions to allow him to stand up straight, as the white robed official came up to him.

"Are you... the Red Devil of Sector Seven?" A female voice came from behind the mask.

"I guess you could say that. And judging from your uniform, you're part of the NOL Zero Squadron, are you not?"

The masked person pulled back her mask, revealing a beautiful red haired girl. "Indeed I am." She then got out her weapon, a crimson short broadsword and what looked like a shield in a fashion of a book with an eye on the cover.

Tager tried his best to get into a defensive stance, but he knows too well that he was in no condition to fight…

…

Reimu slowed down to a stop in a dark alleyway when she realized that no one was chasing her. They probably lost sight of her in favor of pursuing the red giant. Whatever, they are his problem now.

"Well, that was a disaster…" Another pointless battle, only this one had a little effect on her. Minor stiff joints here and there, but nothing a little healing spell won't fix. Now time to get back on track. She really needs to find the rest of her party soon. Reimu could feel the other's presence in this world. Albeit only some, and the signals were very faint and fading. It wouldn't be much of a problem for her pinpointing their locations, if this world wasn't so damn distorted. She could barely sense anything in this world. It all feels like static. Whatever this distortion was, she could feel that it's the same one that was causing this incident, and it was coming from primarily one point.

She looked up at the sky at the ivory tower in the higher elevations of the city. All of the negative energy was all pointing towards that one spot. She found her destination.

"Hm?"

While she was walking down the dark alleyway path, she stumbled upon what looked to be a wanted poster hanging from a wall. The picture of the wanted criminal was of a person wearing a red jacket, having spiky white hair, and having two different colored eyes.

"Ragna...the….Bloodedge?" What a weird name. Wanted for the destruction of numerous Novus Orbis Librarium branches across the world. Well, that sounded like quite an infamous track recor-

"Whoa….." What caught her eye immediately after looking at the poster was the ridiculously large amount of money being offered for tracking down this man.

"N-ninety Billion P$?!"Who knows what kind of conversion rate this supply may yield. It could very well be in the trillions in yen. Her mouth started drool, and huge dollar signs started to shine from her pupils. How could one man have such a cartoonishly large bounty on his head? Maybe having a little side quest wouldn't be too bad…

"Hello? Anyone here?" A voice rang out from the other side of the alleyway.

"Shit…" Reimu quickly tore the wanted poster off the wall, and ran the other direction, away from the voice.

A hooded individual waltzed around the now empty alley way. Its glowing red eyes looked around in confusion.

"Meow?"

…

"Whew, Finally here…" she said as she descended down in front of the huge colossal doors.

She looked up and took in the sheer size of the white cathedral like building with her eyes. It was very regal looking, with lots of blue banners of what she guessed was of the military insignia. She concluded that this must be the headquarters of the area for the army. But if it was…

"Where are the guards?"

The place was deader than Hakugyokurou, and that wasn't even an exaggeration. Not a single soul was present near this cathedral. Everything was empty and quiet. Even as her occupation as a shrine maiden, she could not sense a single spirit nearby. The one thing she felt clearly though, was the overwhelmingly dark aura coming from inside the cathedral. The malicious and evil presence beyond those gates were so palpable, that she was able to sense it when she first landed in this strange city.

"It's here."

The source of the distortion was lying on ahead. So without a shred of hesitation, she walked forward and pried open the huge metal doors.

When she waltzed inside, the only thing that welcomed her was a dark and eerie hallway. It looked like a classic scene of a hallway that appears in evil castles in fiction that the outside world so loves to see. At the other side of the hallway lied another door, but she spotted some light through the crack. Curious, she opened the door, and was immediately blinded by the change of tone. Instead of a bleak and desolate area like the hallway, what lied behind the door was a beautiful and spacious place brimmed with a bunch of richly decorated furniture. Fancy candles and chandeliers littered the ceiling, with the candles emitting blue flames, while the back had a large balcony overseeing the rest of the building. In the background featured a gigantic statue holding a spear and a set of scales. Not too far away from it was also an enormous Hologram of the entire globe.

The entire place was simply breath taking. She could've admired the architecture of the entire area for a little longer, but surprisingly, she sensed the presence of another person nearby.

"Who's there?" she said, her sight not fully adjusted to the light. What she saw was a silhouette of a man standing a couple of feet away.

Once her sight fully adjusted to the light, she saw what kind of person she was looking at.

**BGM: Blazblue Saika no Sasoi (Rebellion)**

The figure was a man wearing a blood red coat. His hair was spiked up and was devoid of any color. He had two different colored eyes and on the back of his body was a gigantic slab of metal of what looked to be a sword strapped to his hip. He raised an eyebrow after seeing what kind of newcomer came in.

"A shrine maiden? There are still some around now a days?"

Hold on a second. Reimu quickly got out the crumbled up poster out of her sleeves and took another look at it.

Red coat, check.

Stupid looking hair, check.

Heterochromia, check.

The only thing different to her was that the person in front of her wasn't as ugly as the drawing on the poster.

_Well, not by much_ , she thought to herself sardonically. But there was something else that raised her suspicion by an incredible amount.

The man shrugged and turned his back to her. "If you are looking for donations, you're out of luck. The whole place seems to be barren, and I don't have any change to give you." He started to walk towards a set of stairs nearby. Until.

"Are you...Ragna The Bloodedge?" He heard her ask behind him. He paused for a second before replying, which was a second too late for Reimu. He turned his head over his shoulder to look at her to answer her question.

"No, you must have mistaken me for someone else" he dismissed her quickly and turned his back to her again.

Except before taking another step, an abrupt explosion appeared at the spot he was about to walk towards. He turned around in alarm, and saw the shrine maiden holding a couple of amulets between her fingers.

"Nice try, but did you really expect me not to notice that suffocatingly dark aura that surrounds you?"

"Shit!" He gripped the hilt of his sword behind him in defense, preparing himself for whatever this girl was about to do.

His aura...that presence….that dark and malicious energy that was emanating from the man. Already she could feel a small amount of her soul being pulled away from her and towards the white haired man. It's similar to the one she felt in Gensokyo. It felt a little different, but the sensation felt the same too much for her to care. This was the man that was responsible for destroying Gensokyo. This man was the one that destroyed her home.

 


	6. Here We Go

…

**Cathedral **

"Argh!" Ragna grunted in pain as one of the shrine maiden's charms exploded on the ground right in front of him. He shielded himself from the blast using his right arm as he dashed away from the explosion.

"You bitch. You're no ordinary shrine maiden." He hissed in pain as his right arm started to burn. That explosion was no ordinary one, or else his grimoire wouldn't be reacting like this. It was like it was quivering in pain, like his entire arm was dissolving.

"What is this?"

"Nothing special really." Reimu said dispassionately. "It's quite simple. I am a shrine maiden" she pointed towards herself "And I specialise in purification and elimination of darkness and evil". She then pointed towards the man with contempt in her eyes. "And you, Mr. 'Grim Reaper, reek of both of those qualities"

_'Just who the hell is this bitch?'_ Ragna thought to himself.

"Just another vigilante..."

"Wrong" Reimu said immediately. "I'm not doing this for money." That would be implying that Gensokyo was only worth a mere ninety billion dollars…

"Then what do you want from me?!"

"Retribution" Reimu said simply.

Ragna's grimoire in his right hand started to tremble as soon as he heard her response. Damnit, this thing won't stop shaking.

"But enough talk. You know how this is going to go down, right?" she said as she raised her Gohei defensively in one hand, with her other hand brandishing a red charm in her fingers.

"Yeah, you ending up in a clinic in Orient Town" Ragna spat as he tentatively raised his sword.

"Cute, a little puppy with all bark and no bite" Reimu grinned.

Ragna growled and bared his teeth at the insult.

The two combatants dashed backwards away from eachother. As she was backing away, Reimu flung two deadly senbon needles laced with spiritual energy towards the SS class criminal. Ragna easily saw the attack, and raised his weapon to block the projectiles with the flat side of his Blood-scythe. The two needles collided with the massive slab of metal, emitting a clean clink that resonated around the room. When he lowered his blade, he was surprised to find the shrine maiden missing.

"Yo." he heard her voice behind him. When Ragna looked around, he almost didn't have enough time to react. The shrine maiden swung her gohei wand horizontally towards the rebel's head. He managed to pull his head back, far enough so that the tip of the wand only grazed the skin of his cheek. It burned, but did not leave a scar. Ragna quickly gathered his bearings and resumed the defensive. Reimu, wishing not to let up the offensive, continued her advance by unleashing a flurry of swings with her Gohei. Ragna stood his ground and tried his best to meet his opponent's weapon with his own. He was doing a rather efficient job at parrying and blocking the shrine maiden's blows, but could do nothing else besides that.

Left, right, horizontal, vertical, high, low. In all directions, the wand collided with the massive metal that was Blood-Scythe. Reimu raised her wand in one hand and swung down hard against the steel, locking blades with the grim reaper. The force of the impact sent cracks throughout the ground they were standing on.

Ragna gritted his teeth while holding his weapon with both hands; trying to stare down the Hakurei Miko. It was obvious that he was struggling, as his arms were shaking from exhaustion just trying to keep up his side of the clash. But when he looked at her, she wasn't the slightest bit tired. Her eyes were unfocused, her mouth and brows were set in a straight line, and all her facial muscles were relaxed. She just seemed….bored.

Each second that ticked by, Ragna could feel himself losing more and more footing, as his blade was being pushed back towards him. And the shrine maiden didn't even look like she was trying.

Reimu sighed. "You're holding back…" she said softly, with a hint of disappointment in her voice.

"Ehh?!" Ragna groaned through clenched teeth.

"I can feel it; that overwhelmingly dark energy trapped within you." she grinned. "The infamous grim reaper? Holding back against a shrine maiden? Ha!" she playfully flicked her wand against the blade with her free hand, which sent Ragna skidding back across the floor with each flick of her finger.

"Or am I wrong and you're just really this weak?" she teased.

"D-don't underestimate me, you bit-" he was cut off when he felt the shrine maiden's foot being rammed into his stomach. The kick sent him flying across the room, colliding into a nearby pillar.

Ragna fell to his knees while holding his stomach.

"But by all means, do me the favor of holding back" Reimu said while arrogantly crossing her arms. "It'll make solving this incident go by a lot faster. Less effort on my part too."

Ragna heaved out pained groans while pondering over the shrine maiden's words. Incident? The hell is she talking about? Ragna looked up and stared at her.

"Who the hell are you?"

Reimu gazed at him dispassionately but said nothing in return.

"Heh, ignoring me huh? Alright then..." Ragna gathered enough strength to get up off the floor. "What the hell do you want from me?! You said something about an incident. Just what, exactly, did I do to you?!"

Reimu raised an eyebrow at this. Who was he trying to fool? "What, are you trying to tell me you don't know about Gensokyo?"

"What the hell are you babbling about? What's Gensokyo?"

"But wait…" she rubbed her chin as she was observing him, like she was analysing him to see if he was lying. "Now that I think about it, this feeling is a bit different from the one back in my world…"

Ragna's breath hitched in his throat when he heard that statement. Particularly at the "my world" part of the comment. Memories of conversations with Rachel started to resurface into his mind. Memories that have happened, or did not happen yet, he wasn't sure, but the words rang loud in his head.

_"If corrosion of the Azure Grimoire continues at this rate, it could cause ruptures of other phenomena as well..."_

Reimu's eyes became distant and cold, as she remembered the horror that transpired the last two weeks. "Back then when everyone's soul was being absorbed. All I could feel that time was this suffocatingly evil and lifeless aura coming from the other side of the boundary."

Ragna's heart sank into the pit of his stomach. Souls being absorbed?

"it could cause ruptures of other phenomena as well..."

It couldn't have been him right? He had always been mindful of abusing his power. But lately he had been reckless with the grimoire.

"But oddly enough, this sensation coming from you seems a bit…warmer."

The shrine maiden's eyes were refocused back towards Ragna. This time, her cold eyes turned scorching with hatred. "Though at this point, that could mean anything. Even now, I could still feel my life force being pulled towards you. So either you are lying to me right now, or what you are doing to my world is a passive phenomena without your acknowledgement. Either way..." Too quick for Ragna to react, Reimu blasted him with cluster of ofuda charms.

Ragna howled in pain as he felt the full brunt of spiritual energy exploding unto him.

"Whether or not you really meant to do it is entirely irrelevant. It all leads back to me kicking your ass in the end. Sorry pal." Reimu said unapologetically.

Before her, Ragna laid in a broken state; gasping weakly while trying his best to cling to consciousness. His back was to the pillar,which was now covered with the man's blood. His signature crimson coat now sported multiple charred areas, with smoke leaking out of each socket. Blood leaked out of his forehead, and covered the inside of his mouth. The only reason he was not dead yet was because of his inherent regeneration bestowed upon him by the Azure Grimoire. But damn, did it do little to make his image any prettier.

Maybe I might have overdone it a little, she thought to herself. A twinge of regret started to pop up in her chest. At least until she shoved it back down. No, this was necessary. Her beloved spell card system would have to be ignored for the time being, at least until the restoration of Gensokyo has been completed. Until then though…

It's going to have to be like back then.

And so, with a heavy heart, Reimu pulled out a single ofuda charm and channeled enough energy to make it a killing blow. Once a sufficient amount was charged, she flung the deadly slip of paper towards the dying man, hoping to finally end the source of the darkness that had spread throughout her home.

Luckily for Ragna, his Azure's regeneration restored enough of his muscles to give him the strength to roll away from the projectile. He rolled to the right and watched the pillar he was laying against crumble to dust in a fiery eruption. Had his body regenerated a second later, he would've surely been dead.

"Tch…" Reimu frowned. She was sure that with the abuse she had been giving him, anyone else would've been out for the count. "Apparently you still got some fight left in you."

Ragna stabbed his sword to the ground, and used it to support himself while he stood up. His wounds still haven't fully healed yet. Pain still coursed throughout his entire body. Each movement of his limbs sent a crippling sensation. If it wasn't obvious before, it was damn apparent now. In his current state, he was no match against the red and white assailant. She was faster, stronger,she packed more firepower, she had a vast arsenal of tools to outrange him, and she wasn't exactly a slouch in close quarters combat either. He was simply outclassed in every category.

_And I'm about to die here, unless I do something…_

His right arm started to shake again; only this time more violently, like it was urging it's owner to do something.

_My Azure?_

His eyes turned towards his trembling hand, then back towards the shrine maiden, who was slowly walking towards him. The closer she got, the more violent the Azure's shaking grew. He was suddenly reminded about his master's warning.

_"Remember Ragna, Do not think of the Azure Grimoire's power as your own. Not ever…"_

_Sorry Master…_

Reimu dashed towards Ragna with her Gohei raised back, intending to go for the kill up and personal. When she got close enough, she swung her weapon, only for Ragna to duck underneath the swipe.

Ragna channeled enough seithr in the air into one powerful shockwave.

"Barrier Burst!"

The force was strong enough to send the shrine maiden skidding across the floor, but did little to no substantial damage to her.

"Looks like I have no choice!"

**(BGM: Rebellion)**

The air started to shift. A sudden tense atmosphere loomed over the two combatants. From Ragna's right hand, his unusual red emblem opened up, revealing an intense purple light.

_**"Restriction 666 released….dimensional interference field deployed!"** _

Ragna roared as he channeled the seithr from his grimoire. Dark mist like particles started to leak out of his right gauntlet, which then enshrouded the man's being. His entire outline was soon laced with a black aura.

**"Blazblue activate!"**

The air shook as more and more seithr started to condense in the area. Nearby, the blue flames decorating the cathedral were snuffed out by the violent winds of seithr caused by the activation process. Reimu stood her ground as her hair flowed. A stern expression was on her face.

"Let's go, you crazy red and white bitch!"

This time, it was Ragna who dashed in to start the assault. He raised his sword high over his head, and swung down.

Reimu dodged, but Ragna did not let up his momentum, rather, he continued the offensive by following his vertical slash with a few more swipes of his sword. Reimu soon found herself to be on the defensive end of the battle. She ducked and weaved through his strikes, occasionally parrying with her gohei wand, but she didn't have enough time to actually launch a counterattack between Ragna's offensive blows. Ragna, on the other hand, was proving himself to be a powerful force when it comes to offensive pressure. Rather than mindless strokes with his blade, Ragna utilized unpredictability in his approach; mixing up his attacks with lows kicks and high sword swings to throw his opponent off and keeping them guessing, occasionally feigning low blows for high ones and vice versa. With his incredible strength and his practical yet unpredictable attacks, Reimu was forced to limiting her options to only blocking and dodging.

Reimu caught the blade that was aimed for her chest with her gohei, and just like clockwork, both combatants found themselves locking blades with one another once again. However this time, the struggle was divided equally between the two. Reimu was surprised to find that despite her best efforts to push forward, the blade colliding between her wand was not budging. And Ragna, despite his Azure Grimoire enhancing his physical power and speed, was not moving the wand an inch either. It was a deadlock between two evenly matched opponents. A stalemate in it's truest form.

Ragna, wishing to return to the offensive, broke the lock and raised his sword to cleave down the shrine maiden.

"Yeah right!" Reimu saw the attack coming, and easily parried the blade away as it was coming down on her with her Gohei in one hand. She shifted her weight and rammed her palm into Ragna's exposed stomach.

"Gah!"

Ragna was sent flying into another nearby pillar. Midway through, he recovered in the air, and planted hits feet against the stony structure. Finding an adequate footing, he propelled himself back towards the shrine maiden. He held his Bloodscythe in a reversed grip, and pulled it back to strike. Reimu saw this, and stood prepared to defend herself.

**"Carnage…!"**

Ragna slashed. Reimu tried to block, but was caught off guard by Ragna's enhanced strength and added momentum.

"Wh-what?" The attack was strong enough to break through her guard, leaving her staggering back.

Ragna then twisted his body along with his BloodScythe, and swung his weapon for a follow up strike.

**"...Scissors!"**

As the sword came grinding off the ground, dark black and red energy started to gather around the blade. Once the blade made contact with the shrine maiden, Reimu was blasted with large spikes of dark energy, knocking her into the air. As she flew, little red orbs floated away from her body, and was absorbed into Ragna's.

Reimu stayed floating in the air, recovering from the attack the SS class criminal landed on her. That one move stung. No, it was downright painful. She looked down, and saw a little bit of blood trickling from her body. The physical aspect wasn't that big of a problem, however. When she was struck, she could feel a substantial amount of her life force leaving her body. Physical wounds, she can heal from, no problem. Wounds that afflicts the soul however...is a lot more difficult to handle.

"Ok, you're starting to become a real pain in the ass now!" She pulled out one of her more favored spell cards.

**"Divine Spirits: Fantasy Seal!"**

Five large and deadly glowing spheres appeared and surrounded Reimu, each one of them sporting a different color.

"Go!" she motioned towards the man below her. The spheres obeyed and homed in on Ragna.

**"Dead Spike!"**

Ragna brought his arm back and swung his blade upwards, releasing a giant wave of dark energy in front of him. The dark energy engulfed the spheres of light as they clashed, completely absorbing her spell. If she squinted hard enough, she could make out the shape of the dead spike, a head of a giant black monster...

As the wave of darkness got closer to her, Reimu erected up a barrier in front of herself. The black spikes collided against the barrier, pushing Reimu back a bit. Even though her defenses were doing a good job at shielding herself against physical trauma, she couldn't help but feel a bit of her life force seeping away as the torrent of black and red energy pushed against her.

Once the spikes dispersed, Reimu noticed that Ragna had disappeared from where she last saw him. Until she looked up.

While she was looking away, Ragna leapt high into the air, releasing the binds in his sword, and unleashing it's awakened form. The blade detached itself from the hilt, forming a scythe. As he closed in, he slashed his scythe downward towards the shrine maiden.

Reimu reacted quickly enough to hold out her arms to form another barrier. However, it was only partially successful, as the barrier did stop the blade from reaching her body, but the attack itself sent her rocketing to the ground, breaking the concrete below.

"Ow…" she winced. She gasped once she saw Ragna landing over her with his sword raised over his head.

"Die!"

Reimu rolled away right as Ragna slammed the blade onto the ground.

The two fighters now stood a couple meters away from each other; both of them panting heavily.

"Damn….huh...you're strong…" Ragna heaved between heavy breaths.

"Heh...alright, alright. Not bad, Mr. Bloodedge." Reimu said as she cracked her neck. "Still...I've dealt with worse"

Suddenly, a large boom echoed throughout the cathedral. It sounded like it was coming from the ceiling, but Reimu wasn't sure. "The hell was that?", Reimu inquired.

"Shit, I don't have time to deal with you! I got somewhere I need to be, business I need to take care of!" Ragna sheathed his sword behind his back. " Sorry, but I'll be ending this little fight now." He held his right hand with his left.

**"Blood...Kain!"** The seithr in the air started to conform around his hands, transforming it into a hideously large black claw with red veins. They kind of reminded her about the youkai's. Those features were similiar to the seithr infected youkais back in Gensokyo.

"Big words. Let's see you back them up". In her right hand, right above her palm, a bright blue sphere of energy started to materialize into what looked like a glowing Yin Yang orb.

Ragna dashed forward, claw drawn back, hoping to end the battle in one move.

Reimu followed suit, sharing the same intention.

**"Be devoured…!"** Ragna said, holding back his arm.

**"Holy Relic sign: Yin Yang…."** Reimu said, following the same motion.

**"BY DARKNESS!"**

**"SANCTIFIER ORB!"**

Both fighters thrusted their arms forward, colliding their abilities against one another. Black and red clashed with bright and blue; light and dark pitted in a fated struggle for power. Trapped between both of their palms was a swirling vortex of dark seithr and white spiritual energy, one that grew in size as the seconds ticked by. Ragna's red sleeves were starting to burn away, as was Reimu's white ones. But neither backed down.

"Victory..!"

"Is….!"

Both continued to push forward, causing the energy between the two of them to grow more and more.

**"MINE!"** Ragna and Reimu screamed in unison.

The energy overloaded, resulting in a devastating explosion that pushed the two combatants away from each other. Ragna was sent skidding across the floor, and Reimu was knocked further into the air, across the balcony. Thanks to her gift of flight, Reimu recovered with little difficulty as she floated above the giant holographic image of the Earth. At this distance, she was able to survey the entire field more easily. At least what's left of it. After her battle with Ragna, large sections of the cathedral were blown up in smithereens. Large parts of the indoor balconies were nowhere to be seen, multiple marble pieces were littered across the floor, and a noticeable decrease in pillars were left standing. And then her eyes adjusted back to Ragna, who was slowly getting up off the floor while cradling his right arm.

_BOOOOOOM_

The same sound that she heard a while ago echoed the cathedral once again, only this time it was louder. With it came the exact same sensation she felt back home. The strange dark, suffocating aura she accused Ragna of before paled in comparison to the one she felt now. His was strangely warm, while this one just felt….lifeless, filled with malice.

"What in the… hey do you kno-!"

When she looked back at him, another wave of darkness came at her. She descended her flight a little to dodge.

"Ha! Nice try!...Huh?", she felt a bit of rubble dropping on top of her head. Apparently Ragna wasn't aiming for her, but for the patch of concrete and chandelier that was hanging above her. When she looked up, dozens of large chunks of heavy concrete and chandelier pieces came hurtling towards her. She failed to react quick enough, and was knocked out and pushed down into the darkness below the cathedral.

When Ragna loomed over what's left of the balcony, he noticed a large hole in the ground in the lower levels of the cathedral, probably caused by the debris he rained down on her. Oh well, at least she was out of the way. If they were to continue the fight, he doubt he would come out on top. At least, not without heavy losses. He quickly made his way up the set of stairs.

…

**The Sheol Gate**

"...uh...uh….huh?"

She figured she was knocked out for a couple of minutes. When she opened her eyes, all she could see was a pile of rocks and concrete all around her. She pushed one chunk away and popped her head out of the rubble to survey her new surroundings. Wherever she was, it was pretty damn dark. The whole place was lifeless and had an abandoned vibe to it. The only source of light was through a giant hole up above. She put two and two together, and deduced that that hole was probably caused by her crashing through the floor up in the cathedral. Through the little light she had, she could make out a little of the area. She was on a catwalk; dust filled the air around her, giant gear like contraptions were attached to the walls, and further on in the distance, she saw what appeared to be a giant gate, closed off by multiple wing shaped structures.

She suddenly heard a shuffling noise behind her.

"Who's there-?!", Reimu's heart stopped when she saw what was behind her.

The scene before her eyes was one of utter destruction. There were visible cracks on the surroundings, and large splotches of blood coated the walls and the nearby pillars. An epic battle took place here; a struggle of life and death,and one that happened not too long ago.

"...hah…..hah…."

The sound of faint breathing could be heard coming from deeper within the room, although it sounded weak and heavily strained. Through the shadows, she spotted someone leaning against one of the stone pillars. She went in to investigate. As she got closer and closer, she noticed an increase in the amount of blood decorating the area. When she was close enough to identify who it was, her breath hitched in her throat. Before her eyes was a white haired wounded girl in a green attire, leaning against a damaged pillar. Two swords were sticking from the ground, with the blade cut firmly into the floor. A familiar ghostly wisp was writhing on the floor not too far away, with a visible gash decorating across its pale body. She sort of looked like Kaguya or Mokou after their daily spars. Not a good condition for a non-Hourai.

"Youmu!"

Reimu quickly rushed over to her friend's side. Youmu slowly cracked one eye open and found Reimu crouching beside her. Her eyes were distant and clouded, comparable to a corpse's

"Ah. R-Reimu….", she choked out, relieved to see a friendly face. Blood was painted across her forehead and covered multiple areas throughout her body. Her usual green attire had noticeable tears and slashes and one huge gash running across her midsection. Her metal greaves and gauntlets had cracks running along their steely exterior, rendering them useless. She weakly reached out her arm towards Reimu, who immediately grabbed her hands, noticing the lack of strength in the other girl's grip.

"Oh shit. What...happened?", Reimu asked, unable to hide the tremor in her voice.

"Ha ha...got beaten up.."

"Yeah, I can see that!" Reimu took in a long breath, and forced herself to calm down. Panicking wouldn't help the current situation. She's already lost so much, and she'll be damned if she loses one of her friends. "Where are the others?"

Youmu shook her head. "Don't know...I lost consciousness soon after we got separated in the boundary. Then suddenly I woke up, and found myself here…!" Youmu held her hand to her mouth as she started to cough up a massive amount of blood.

"Hold on" Reimu whispered.

Reimu got in closer to inspect the swordswoman's wounds. "These gashes are precisely placed and cleanly cut. Most likely caused by a long blade..." She looked up at Youmu with a questioning look. "Who in the world could've done this to _you_ , of all people, with a sword?"

Youmu let out a bitter laugh. "Not strong enough. Still...much to learn…!" Youmu started to cough up more blood. Reimu cradled Youmu's head and held her still.

"Hang in there, let me patch you up." She raised her palm over the huge gash on the half-ghost's stomach and started to channel spiritual energy to close the wound up. She was no Eirin, but simple healing arts are pretty standard among shrine maidens in Gensokyo. However, despite her efforts, blood still seeped out of the wound and the gash did not close.

"What? Wha-why isn't it working?!" She applied more energy into the wound, and yet, it didn't heal. Youmu slowly shook her head at the futility.

"It's pointless. Healing magic won't work. Not on those wounds…"

"Damn!" Reimu cursed. She tried again, and again, pumping as much energy into the half ghost as she could muster, so much so that the girl's started to radiate a white glowing aura. However, her efforts bore no results. Reimu's breath started to sound labored, her arms began to shake a little, and sweat covered her forehead.

"Argh...What the hell!"

The entire setting started to rumble. Over in the distance, below the catwalk, the gate started to open. Little by little, the wing-like structures began pulling back, revealing a large ominous, cloudy portal. The whole room soon became illuminated by the bright gate.

"Youmu? Do you know what this is?"

Youmu turned her head towards the spectacle. "...Look" she pointed towards the portal. Reimu looked back, and noticed something coming out of the heart of the glowing gate; a large group of small glowing blue shards.

"Are those…?"

"Souls. From Gensokyo"

The blue shards of light floated up into the air, where it phased through the ceiling.

"At the top of this place...is where you'll find the source of this incident…" Youmu said, leaning her head back against the pillar.

Reimu looked up towards the ceiling, then hesitantly back to her friend. "Well, I can't just leave you here-", she was interrupted when the half ghost raised her hand, indicating her to stop.

"Go...save our home" she said, mustering up the best supportive smile she could give to Reimu. It was a weak one, but no less sincere.

Reimu stared upwards, her eyes hardening as she reaffirmed her convictions. She quickly took off into the air, and flew towards the giant hole in the ceiling. "I'll come back for you after I'm done!"

Youmu watched her friend take off into the distance with a somber look. She lays down and closes her eyes, feeling her body shutting down from the sword wounds.

"In the next life...hm?" she mused. She exhaled one last breath, then fell silent.

…

 


	7. Forgotten

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Before we begin, I would like to remind to anyone reading that this is also an Osana Reimu crossover. As such, people who have not yet watched this glorius masterpiece might be lost. Highly recommend people finish that before diving in any further

 

…

**Adventus**

"Finally. I made it" Reimu sighed loudly.

The flight up the multiple sets of stairs took way longer then she would've liked. She didn't give the size of the building enough credit. It already looked enormous from the outside, but it was like a whole other world inside. Once she got her breath back, she took in her new surroundings.

"Well, this is dull."

The area was literally just a flat surface. The scenery was nice at least, a bunch of clouds that looked like she could touch them if she tiptoed high enough. The only noticeable structure she could spy was just a tall blue glowing structure. On top of the obelisk was a giant sphere composed of angelic wings. It seems to be enshrouding something, almost like a cocoon. Within the cracks of the wings, she could see light coming out. Strangely though, with the light came black shadowy tendrils leaking between the wings. "What is this?"

As Reimu got closer, she spotted a familiar sight at the base of the structure. A figure, one with white hair and a red jacket, was lying on the ground not too far away,bleeding and motionless.

"You…"

"Well, well. I wasn't expecting a visit from the local shrine maiden", a voice appeared out of nowhere. Behind the altar, from the shadows, a mysterious man in a suit with a fedora hat stepped forth. "You know, if we had any to begin with."

Reimu eyed the man distrustingly. She called upon her senses and probed the man, but strangely, there was nothing. "Who are you?"

"Oh! Where are my manners?" The man took his hat off and placed it to his chest as he bowed low, revealing a full head of green hair. "I am Hazama, from the Novus Orbis Librarium Intelligence Department. I think my current rank there is, uh...Captain? If I recall correctly." He finished off lamely.

"You don't sound very convincing…"

"Eh, what can I say?" Hazama said as he replaced his hat back on his head. "It was a recent promotion."

Reimu looked at the man skeptically. The man was shady and despite her earlier attempts to gauge the person, he possessed a dangerous atmosphere around him, in that which he made no effort in hiding. She directed the attention back to the body laying on the ground.

"Were you the one who did that?"

Hazama looked behind him. Once he saw who she was referring to, he flashed an amused grin. "You know, for the first time in a long while, I can honestly say that I wasn't the one who put him down. Not this time, at least."

"Hmm..." She looked at the body once more, and found that it hasn't moved an inch. "Well, I guess that's that" she said with a hint of disappointment. With that, she turns her back to the green haired man.

"Aww leaving so soon?" Hazama sighed dramatically and shook his head. "That's disappointing; to leave with a puzzle so incomplete after journeying so far to finish it."

A sudden chill ran up Reimu's spine. Her eyes narrowed into angry slits and her face scrunched up. "Wait, what did you say?"

"Now now, no need to show me such a scary face" Hazama said in a faux hurt tone. "Tut tut, child. A shrine maiden shouldn't have such a grumpy expression."

Reimu could feel her teeth starting to grind. "Quit screwing around with me! Tell. Me. How. You. Know"

The green haired male chuckled at the aggressiveness. "Well, I AM an intelligence officer, after all, so it should of be no surp-"

A piece of paper flew past his face, hitting the ground away from his back. Upon impact, the ground exploded with a loud boom.

After a few seconds of silence, Hazama's nonchalant demeanor started to wane. His smile slowly turned into a disappointed scowl. "Seriously, you spend all this time wandering around this city, trying to find the source of your little problem, yet when you are at the home stretch, all you do is scratch your head and screech like a brain dead chimp?" he said condescendingly. "And here I thought you were a smart gal, but it turns out you're nothing more than just another stupid bitch..."

Suddenly, the entire mood changed. A metaphysical veil was lifted. What was once nothing turned into that familiar dark feeling, coming from the man. A slow realization started to come to her.

"Figured it out yet? Here, let me help you with that." He raised the brim of his hat to reveal his now fully opened eyes. As Reimu stared into the golden depths, a sudden wave filled her senses. Reimu grabbed her head in agony as she fell down on her knees. Her vision started to blacken, _until there was nothing but darkness. The only thing she could feel was some unknown force probing her mind. Something was constricting her entire psyche, akin to how a snake suffocates it's prey to death. Suddenly, her thoughts were flooded with memories. Memories of what has transpired the past two weeks, all in crystal clear detail in it's entirety. Recollections of all those Youkais and Humans that she was forced to put down, visions of the look of utter hopelessness on the villager's faces flashed in front of her eyes. She saw and heard it all; the blood curdling screams, the writhing battered bodies on the floor weakly reaching out to her, the villagers getting ripped apart by crazed youkais and humans. She heard the tearing of flesh and the breaking of bones. And the voices! Oh gods, the thoughts. All were replayed in her mind with such clarity, it was as if she was reliving the past two weeks all over again. Reimu wanted it all to stop. These were the exact images she hoped she would never have to see ever again. To make matters worse, along with the visions, she could literally feel the thoughts and emotions of those people who were unfortunate enough to have their souls taken away. Their suffering was her suffering. Feelings of grief, sadness, fear, pain, and despair, all were relayed into the shrine maiden's psyche in spades. For her, this was a living hell, and for someone who literally went to the underworld, that was saying something. At the end of her visions, the last image she saw was the transparent outline of a ghost, with green veins running along it's dark body._ When her eyesight returned, she found "Hazama" standing in the exact same spot, with his hands casually placed in his pockets.

"Gosh, that must've been quite the trip. The way you were screaming could have shaken the entire building. Though I suppose having to spend two weeks reliving that shitfest would've done that to anyone"

Reimu reached up to her cheeks, and was surprised to find a river of tears running down her face. She wiped away her tears and looked up at the man. She squinted her eyes and saw something underneath the body…

" _You_ …"

What she saw, was the same black and green shadow she saw in her vision.

"It was _you_!" she all but growled. Within the chaotic visions, she understood everything. His intentions, his goals, his ambition, and what he would do and have done to accomplish it. All were relayed into her mind, almost intentionally.

"BINGO~! A little slow on the realization. Hmmm...B minus"

"You sick, twisted son of a bitch!" Reimu snarled.

"Aww don't be like that. I'm having all sorts of fun right now" Hazama sounded hurt. "I just wanted to spread the happiness to your world, that's all." He couldn't help but let out a little chuckle at the end of that statement.

Reimu found her arms shaking and going stiff, her hands clenching so tightly that her nails almost broke the skin.

"Ahhh Reimu. Miss Hakurei...hmm. Can I call you Reimu?" He asked innocently. The face the shrine maiden shot him gave him the answer. He chose to ignore it. "Reimu, I got to ask." He motioned towards the giant altar behind him. "Isn't this the most beautiful thing you have ever laid eyes on? I mean, smelting a continuous supply of souls without any intervention?! AWE-SOME, right? And it's all thanks to your world!"

As Hazama spoke more and more, Reimu's rage for the man increased in accordance. Sure, she was quick to anger from time to time, but it was never more than just mild irritation. Never could she ever truly say she hated an enemy before. She always looked at everyone equally with disdain. The same couldn't be said for him at the moment. Already, she could feel her hatred for this bastard rising at an alarming rate. She closed her eyes and counted to ten, in a futile attempt to calm herself down.

Hazama laughed at her obvious frustration. "What's the matter, Rei rei? Getting a little upset? I know how you feel. It must suck watching someone pluck up aaaaall the things you loved the most, and turning them into something horrible, right before your eyes. My condolences, really! But oh my GOD, is this so much fun! Especially your face! The way you try so hard to hold back your hatred! HA! What a riot!"

Something wasn't right. Her mind was going hazy. The only thing she felt was hatred. Hatred for the man, hatred for what he has done, and hatred for the fact that she was helpless to these feelings.

"You piece of shit. If you really expect me to just sit here and let you get away with this, you're in for a _very_ rude awakening" Even though it was her own words coming out, the tone of it sounded nothing like her usual voice. What was usually cool, laid back and apathetic, turned into something bloodlusted, malicious, and filled with pure hatred.

"'Expect me to...?' Are you a fucking idiot? You think your little 'tough guy' bullshit is gonna make any difference here? The only thing I expect from you, is for you to die on the floor, bleeding helplessly, as you watch me use everyone you know as resources for a sword!"

The ground started to shake once more. This time though, the entire floor started to radiate a blue hue.

"Wh-what's going on?"

"Ah, it looks like the latest shipment has just arrived."

From the concrete, a heartbreakingly numerous amount of crystal-like shards of souls rose up into the air. Hazama whistled to himself, impressed with the amount collected.

"Oh yeah, this will do nicely." With a wave of his hand, the giant cloud of blue souls started to float towards the cocoon up in the sky.

"No..no!" Reimu pleaded. "Don't you dare!"

Hazama continued to will the souls up in place while he whistled a hearty tune, completely ignoring the shrine maiden's request.

"Gods dammit, stop smelting right now!"

" **Or what?!"** Hazama roared back. "You actually think you're in a position to demand shit from me?!"

As the two argued, one particular little shard came floating towards the green haired man. "Oh my, now will you look at this?"

The two marveled at the specimen. It was a soul. One of a little girl too. It glowed brightly, almost radiating a pure and innocent aura.

"Poor thing, she was a pitifully ignorant little one, always seeing nothing but happiness and sunshine around her. She was friends with almost every kid in the village, and was adored by every adult. Not a care in the world." He said whimsically as he inspected the shard. Reimu could see the girl's past too, using her unique ability to read the living spirits.

"It all fell apart one day, when she came home in the aftermath of the cataclysm, to find the hollowed husk of her father munching away at the remains of her mother"

The two had opposite reactions while reading the soul. Reimu's face was one of abhorrence, her hands raised to her mouth in disgust, and a few trickles of tears started to appear in her eyes. While Hazama's face was one of amusement, as if he was watching some cartoon on the TV. "I guess her innocent little heart just couldn't take it anymore, and she just...gave up." He held up a hand to his face and grinned. "Oh damn, that's so beautifully tragic!"

As Reimu continued to stare in awe, the little blue shard floated even closer to the intelligence officer, until it was hovering inches away from the tip of his nose. "Aw, what's the matter, child? Feeling lonely?" He held up his hand, and the little soul slowly descended until it rested on top of his palm. "Wanna be with your family and friends? I understand. Then let me help you with that, little one." He cooed at the little shard of light.

At those words, Reimu quickly snapped out of her stupor and opened her mouth to scream, "Stop!"

Hazama then violently crushed the blue shard in his hand, effectively destroying any semblance of a person in the soul. The blue soul shattered into tiny dust like fragments, nothing more than just power supply for the cauldron.

That done it. With one last act of defiance against all things just and decent, Reimu succumed herself to her boiling hatred for the green haired bastard. Her pupils dilated, her nostrils flared, and her teeth were bared. She was furious now.

"You heartless son of a bitch! I'll never forgive you!" she practically growled.

" **That's it! That's it! That face...wonderful! Show me more! Show me more hatred, show me more anger, show me more of that delicious look of DESPAIR!"** Terumi taunted.

Reimu found herself helplessly obliging his requests. "I swear to all the Gods, I will exterminate you!" She raised her wand at the assailant, her arms shaking with fury as the white flaps at the end of the stick fluttered in the air. "I'll Obliterate you, until there's not even a single atom of you remaining!"

"Bring it on then, REIMU HAKUREI!"

Reimu dashed forward at breakneck speed, the only thoughts in her head were about the total eradication of the person in front of her. With extreme prejudice dictating her movements, she lashed out with her wand at the main in the suit. However, though there was more then enough strength following her swing, there was little to no focus in her mental state. Because of that, Hazama easily sidestepped her attack, which instead, landed on the ground where he once stood, sending fresh cracks running down the concrete.

"Where are you looking?!" Hazama then rammed his knee into her exposed gut, effectively knocking the wind out of her.

"UGH!" Reimu doubles over and falls to her knees, her hands pressed against the stomach.

Hazama raised his other leg high into the air, and slammed the sole of his shoe against the shrine maiden's temple, stomping her head into the ground, which sent more cracks rippling across the surface of the roof.

"Hey hey hey! Don't tell me that was it?!" Hazama taunted, as he tapped the tip of his foot on the shrine maiden's face, while keeping the heel firmly placed on her head. "Is that really how much you hate me? HA! Not enough! Come on, hate me more. Hate me" He raised his foot and stomped her in the head.

"Hate me!" He stomped her again.

"Hate me!" and again.

"Hate me!" and again.

"Hate me!" and again.

"Hate me Hate me Hate me Hate me,Hate me,Hate me HateMeHateMeHateMe _ **HATE ME!**_ " He stomped again and again and again repeatedly in quick succession to his twisted heart's content. Once he was satisfied, he pulled back his leg and kicked her away, sending her spiraling through the air.

Reimu recovered early enough in the air to land with her feet skidding back. She raised her head to reveal her bleeding forehead. She turned her head, and spat a shot of blood out of her mouth. "You're so _dead!_ " She spread her arms wide, and two yin yang orbs materialized beside her. She took off high into the sky. Once she deemed she was far enough, she grabbed as much ofuda charms her finger's could carry.

"Disappear!" She flung all the charms she had, and immediately reached for more to throw. As soon as she found some, she immediately threw it at her opponent, and repeated the process. The Yin Yang orbs followed suit, firing a constant barrage of ofuda. Hazama watched in amusement as the barrage of deadly projectiles flew at him. He stood there calmly, one hand placed against his hat, and the other dangling beside his body, a psychotic grin growing on his face. The barrage of ofuda all gathered and homed in where the man stood, each one exploding upon impact. Reimu stopped firing for a second to observe the situation. Currently, there was only silence, and the cloud of black smoke rising from where Hazama stood.

Reimu didn't let up, however, and pulled out a spell card. Why settle for just one tiny explosion, afterall.

" **Spell Card Jewel Sign: Concealed Orbs of Light!"**

Three giant blue glowing Yin Yang Orbs started to materialise over the cloud of dust and smoke. With a flick of her wand, Reimu commanded the orbs to fall in place. The orbs exploded upon collision, resulting in a blast radius that reached several meters wide and tall, parting the clouds above as the inferno erupted below.

Reimu floated in place, panting heavily, as she surveyed the chaos. The area below her was hardly visible, as the only thing noticeable was the huge mushroom cloud she caused in her blind rage. As more and more of the terrain started to become visible, she could see that oddly enough, the tower's roof, albeit heavily damaged, was still in one piece. Reimu closed her eyes and heaved out a heavy sigh, clearly tired from the massive amount of energy she expelled.

"Phew…ACK!" She suddenly felt something cold and hard clamping down into her throat.

**BGM: Gluttony Fang**

Her eyes snapped open to see a massive metal snake head biting the flesh underneath her chin.

She looked down and saw that a long black and green glowing chain was attached behind it, and was coming out of the cloud of dust below. She was suddenly yanked down by the throat, slamming hard into the ground and dispersing the remaining dust and smoke around her.

She coughed violently, trying to mend the abuse her throat had withstood. She heard something coming from behind her, and turned around to see Hazama stepping out of the residual smoke. The chain that yanked her down earlier was slithering around the man, before it disappeared into a black void. Aside from very few scorches on his suit, he was virtually unharmed.

"This was my good suit, you _bitch!_ "

Reimu quickly pulled two needles out of her sleeve, and flung them toward Hazama's glowing yellow eyes.

With an effortless flick of his wrist, he easily deflected the needles with his butterfly knife. He turned his attention back to his opponent, only to find her no where in sight. Once he realized what she was up to, he immediately ducked. Her plan was to immediately phase out of existence, and land a surprise attack while he was distracted.

The wand came grazing off the tip of his hat. He turned around to see the angry form of Reimu Hakurei. Hazama only replied back with a grin. This only further angered Reimu. She pulled her leg back, and tried to kick his teeth in, but he neatly dodged her kick. Frustrated, she pulled back her gohei, and swung it down onto the man's chest. He twirled around the attack, dodging her attack the second time. Feeling her vein bursting in her temple, she unleashed a series of kicks and swings of her gohei, all at tremendous speeds, making her seem like a blur. None of her attacks hit, however, as Hazama literally danced around her strikes and kicks. He sidestepped and twisted his body around her wand and leg without a care in the world, laughing while he did so.

"Just. Hold still. Damn you!" She threw a punch towards his head, only to have it whiff over his hat, leaving her vulnerable for a counter attack.

" **Let's go! Serpent's Infernal Rapture!"** Hazama swiftly raised his leg in a mighty kick, along with a massive green pillar of energy reaching the heavens. The kick managed to land against Reimu's chin, sending her sky high above the clouds.

As Reimu was plummeting back down to Earth, she had a stunned expression on her face. What was this? How was she losing so easily? She can barely land any sort of hits, and when she did, it didn't phase him. _This is pretty humiliating._

With a loud thud, Reimu painfully made contact with the ground, her back taking the full abuse gravity had to offer. She slowly got up while Hazama was snickering at her.

"Well, this has certainly been a fun little warm up! **But how about we get to the real exercise?** "

He held up his arms and started to chant.

" **Restriction 666 released. Dimensional interference field deployed!"**

The ground started to quake, the air started to tremble. The atmosphere was soon filled with a static like energy, and Reimu held her head in pain once again.

"Wait, is this-?!"

…

" _ **Restriction 666 released. Dimensional interference field deployed!"**_

_Ragna roared as he channeled the seithr from his grimoire. Dark mist like particles started to leak out of his right gauntlet, which then enshrouded the man's being. His entire outline was soon laced with a black aura._

" _ **Blazblue activate!"**_

…

She remembered Bloodedge chanting the exact same words, and she did not forget what the activation had done for his strength during their fight.

Hazama cackled evilly, upon reading her thoughts. "So, you think you've had a taste of the Azure, huh? Think again...let me show you the _true_ power of the Azure!" Dark energy started to swirl around the man.

" **Code S.O.L!"**

Reimu's body was starting to lose strength for some reason. Her mind was hazy, and oddly enough, her body feels like it's shutting down. Slowly, but surely, she could feel her life force draining from her body. Her breathing was going ragged, her muscles were going weaker. "What's happening?" she thought to herself.

" **Blazblue...** _ **activate!"**_

A green ring of runes materialized around Hazama. As she touched the outline of the ring, she could feel her soul being ripped apart from her body, making close quarters combat suicidal, if not damn near impossible.

"Oh shit! That's bad!" She quickly flew up into the air, in an attempt to create distance between her and that damned ring.

"Where do you think you're going?!" Hazama shot a chain up into the air, and used it to propel himself above the clouds.

The battle was now taken to the skies.

Reimu used her gift of flight to stay above the clouds, while Hazama utilized his chains to propel himself in the air, maneuvering around by shooting his chains in the direction he wished to go to.

Reimu and her yin yang orbs fired a barrage of ofuda charms at Hazama, who skillfully dodged each of the amulets, propelling himself away from each charm with his chains, using his ouroboros to make sharp turns around each slip of paper.

Hazama retaliated back by firing off multiple chain-like projectiles and a couple of green snake shaped energy blasts. Reimu, in turn, also dodged around his attacks with practiced elegance.

The ranged warfare continued on for a while, with both combatants firing off their own projectiles while dodging the opposition's. The sky was soon littered with flying red ofuda charms and dark green chains and energy blasts, all of which were hitting nothing but air. Reimu cursed at the fact that she kept missing, while Hazama looked like he was having the time of his life. Reimu's heart sank at the idea, but it might be possible that she would have to get in close to deal damage.

Later on in their aerial dogfight, the two fighters decided that relying purely on range was a fruitless endeavor. Occasionally, the two would collide in the air; Reimu's gohei wand clashing against Hazama's knives. Everytime they traded punches, or crossed blades, a visible shock wave would ripple through the air.

If someone were to be looking up at the sky in that moment, they would see a flashing red and white comet alongside a black and green glowing shadow zipping across the clouds and crashing into each other, occasionally firing bursts of energy at one another.

Unfortunately for Reimu, she was at a disadvantage in this little struggle. Everytime she get's close to him (and consequently, his green ring) she could feel herself growing weaker and slower. After trading swipes with their weapons, she would find herself in a daze, due to the damage inflicted on her soul.

Hazama decided to abuse the situation. After one more clash in the air, Hazama immediately fired off a chain towards Reimu, as she was recovering from the close proximity with him.

Reimu cried out in pain as the chain punctured through her chest. Hazama quickly zipped across the distance until he was right in front of her. He got out two butterfly knives, one in each hand, and delivered a series of rapid slashes across her body. Reimu could do little but try to endure the feeling of cold blades cutting into her flesh, as the magic ring eats away more and more of her soul. Hazama finished it off with a fierce axe kick to the head, with dark green energy trailing off his feet as it collided against Reimu's skull, sending her spiraling down towards the ground.

But he wasn't done yet.

"Oh no, not in the slightest."

He fired off another chain towards the falling shrine maiden, this time the snake head biting down into her shoulder, stopping her descent and making sure she stayed within his green circle. He started to spin in the air like a turbine, gaining more and more momentum with every rotation. Pain and nausea filled her senses, as Reimu spun helplessly around Hazama, dangling from the chain binding her shoulder blade.

Once a good amount of rotational momentum was gathered, he let go of the shrine maiden at an angle that sent her towards the large glowing obelisk down below. Her back collided with a loud crash against the surface of the cauldron. She slowly slid off the flat surface, falling face first into the ground...

"GAH!"

In a quick second, Hazama abruptly fell out of the sky, landing with both feet onto the shrine maiden's spine, with one hand placed against his hat and the other casually held in his pockets.

"Golly, that was sure fun" He said whimsically.

…

Reimu growled while her face was planted on the ground. She weakly tried to push herself up from the floor, only for Hazama to stomp her back down with his foot.

"Hehehehehehe. What's the matter girl? You were spewing the hottest of shit not too long ago. _Now_ look at you _._ " He emphasized his last statement by grinding his shoes against her spinal cord.

"Shut up...you damn piece of sh-" Hazama stepped on her head before she could finish her sentence.

"There it is." He hissed. "There's that sweet _sweet_ hatred. To be honest, your snarky bitchy attitude really pisses me off! But if there's one thing I can't get enough of, it's that juicy amount of hate you got for me. It's as delicious as Raggy's over there." He said as he flicked his head behind him, in the direction of Ragna's battered body on the ground.

He bent low to the floor, so that he could whisper into the shrine maiden's ears. "You know, I could just kill you right here, right now. A single stab here would do well," he pointed his knife to her back, "Or I could just stomp your head into a bloody mess. That sounds fun, no? But I'm not going to. Not yet at least. There's something I gotta show you first." He roughly grabbed her by the hair, and yanked her head up so that she was staring at the cocoon in the sky.

"This world is full of shit." He started. "It's filled with nothing but stupid, ignorant, degenerate filth that blinds themselves from the truth. It disgusts me! I couldn't imagine a more revolting realm existing...that is until me and my friend stumbled upon your world. Just imagine my horror upon studying more about it!"

He gagged.

"You people live with monsters on a daily basis, brushing up with death almost every day, and still you stupid humans turn a blind eye, failing to see the truth!" He tightened his grip around her hair, much to the girl's discomfort. "Your world...as well as this one...are filled with _lies._ Friendship between humans and youkais? Lies. Thinking you can solve everything through games? Lies! _Faith?!_ LIES LIES LIES LIES! That's why it's up to me to show everyone the truth! The truth called despair!"

"You're insane." Reimu growled.

"You're not so innocent from ignorance, yourself, y'know? Oh wait, you actually don't! Well then, let me show you the hidden chapters of your past…"

With a wave of his hand, the winged fold of the cocoon started to fold back, revealing its secrets to the world. Reimu could only stare, awed and dumb struck at the sight above her. Inside the exposed cocoon was a large glowing sphere. However, it was the design of the sphere that left Reimu speechless. One side of the sphere was pure white, while the other side of the sphere was pitch black, with each side divided by an "S" shaped line. At the head of the white and black swirls was a person floating in the air. At the head of the white swirl was a blonde naked girl, curled up in a fetal position. The person of the other side though, was what turned Reimu's world upside down. At the head of the black swirl, was a grown blond female, resting in a sleep like trance. Her attire consists of an elegant black vest with matching skirt, white blouse underneath, and a red tie wrapped around her neck. She sort of looks like-

...

" _No! Stag beetles are the best!" I yelled out passionately, holding the cardboard headpiece of stag beetle horns steady on my head._

" _ **No way! Rhino beetles are every kid's dream!"**_ _The taller blonde woman argued back, sporting a rhino beetle's horn on top of her head, as well as taping a couple of cardboard wings behind her back._

" _Stag beetles!"_

" _ **Rhino beetles!"**_

" _Yahhhh!" I charged forward, with my two horns pointing at the older woman, ready to prove once and for all which beetle was the better one. As soon as my skull collided against her stomach, I felt the cardboard on my head compress against her body. She quickly wrapped her long arms around my smaller body, and lifted me up high into the air._

" _ **Told you Rhino beetles are better."**_ _She said with a grin._

" _Nooo! Hehehe~" I failed to contain the giggle as she whirled me around in the air playfully. Once she stopped, and lowered me down until I was at chest level with her, I turned around towards a woman in red and white shrine maiden clothing standing in front of the door way._

" _Tell her, mom! Tell Rumia that stag beetles are better!"_

" _ **You're still wearing that ridiculous box?"**_

_The older shrine maiden let out a laugh, though it sounded distorted due to the giant box around her head. Even though the box was obscuring her face, we could tell that she was smiling to the both of us._

...

"Mom…?" Reimu weakly choked out. "….Rumia?" She could feel a fresh bundle of tears trailing down her cheeks. Soon, more static laced images were flowing back into her head. Images of…her past? But, she doesn't remember any of this happening.

Hazama watched in silence as he used his Nox to pull up more and more of her past, grinning at the expression the young girl was showing. Her eyes, once bright and powerful, were now dull and lifeless.

More and more images flashed within her mind. And with it came a great wave of nostalgia.

...

" _Rumia!" I shouted into the forest, my voice straining with each scream. But I pressed on into the foliage, hoping that my little voice can somehow reach out to the woman that I loved as family._

" _RUMIAAA!" Still, I can't help shake the feeling that I will never see her again…_

...

" _Today is a cold day, Little Reimu…" The old Youkai spoke to me. Both of us were sitting in front of the shrine. "You will catch a cold if you sit here…"_

"… _I will stay here…" I stubbornly said._

_The Youkai was silent for a second, before letting out a sigh. "How about having breakfast with me?" She suggested, "you must be hungry."_

_Food was the last thing on my mind at the moment. Food can wait, when mom comes home. Then I can eat, with Rumia next to me._

" _No…"_

"… _.."_

" _Mom…" I sniffed, "Mom told me….Rumia will come back…" No matter how hard I tried, the tears came flowing out. "B-Because….Rumia loves Reimu…" I said mostly to myself, rather than the youkai in front of me. "So…" A sob escaped my throat. "So…" It was no use; I couldn't hold it in, any tears that I held back now flowed freely without opposition. "Mom, Rumia….They will come back, right?"_

...

" _You tried your best already." The youkai said to me, hugging me. "So, you do not have to take this anymore…"_

_That did it. That was all that was needed to be said. I saw now, both of them are gone. Mom and Rumia have left me. And so, with sadness drowning my heart, I let out a cry; a cry of despair, a cry of loneliness, a cry of loss._

_The Youkai sage held me close, whispering into my ear. "You are still too young to understand…the truth."_

_I suddenly felt…something within my head. I started to become sleepy all of a sudden. "All I can do now is to erase this part of your memory…"_

_Everything started to fade away into darkness. "Sorry…"_

...

"NOOO!" Reimu screamed. "Don't take them away from me!"

"Wooow! That was quite the watch!" Hazama clapped his hand while keeping his heel firmly placed on Reimu's back.

"YOU! Let her go!" She raised an arm up towards the cocoon. "RUMIA!"

"Oh, will you just shut UP ALREADY?!" He planted his other foot down on her outstretched hand, breaking her arm in the process. "And why on Earth would I do that, hm?! After all, I have soooo much in store for your dear, sweet Rumia." He looked down at her, and saw that she was sneering at him. Behind the never ending stream of tears was a flaming hatred burning within those red irises'. He had to admit, if anyone else were to experience what she had gone through, they would've been broken completely. But not her, apparently. It works out either way, he presumed. He bent down low again, so that they were looking directly into each other's eyes.

"Does it hurt? Knowing how much will continue to die because of your _failure_? Or maybe it's the fact that you're going to lose _her_ " He motioned upwards towards the cocoon, "again?"

" **Bastaaaaaard!"**

He uttered a laugh at her response. "Now that you know what despair really feels like, feel free to die for me. But I have a feeling this won't be the last time we'll be seeing each other. So I'll be leaving you with this. Remember my name. Terumi" He grinned maliciously. "Yuuki Terumi. Engrave that name into your soul, so that you may never forget it."

"Ter..umi…" Reimu said, her voice dying out. She can feel the last vestiges of her life force leaving her soul.

"See you in the next life!" Terumi raised his foot. "Oh, and by the way. Rhino beetles? Are totally better."

The last thing Reimu saw was the bottom of his shoe coming down onto her. Then, her world slipped into darkness.

_**Reimu Stories: End** _

…

…

 

 

_Reimu:_ _**Help me! Professor Kokonoe!**_

In front of you, the giant red curtains starts to divide and move to the side, revealing a dark room. From the darkness, a sudden ray of light shoots down in the middle of the room. In the middle of the light was a woman with pink hair, cat ears, and was wearing a scientist's coat with red capri pants.

_**BGM: Blazblue Comedy OST** _

Kokonoe: "Greetings lost children! I am Professor Kokonoe, genius scientist and ruler of the Sector Seven laboratory."

She coughed into her sleeves, quickly recomposing herself.

Kokonoe: "Ok, we aren't really in the lab at the moment. This place is technically a room somewhere hidden deep within the boundary. Basically, this place is a mysterious room, where all sorts of stuff can happen. You can sort of think of this place as...a paradise to those poor sad souls that couldn't make it to their desired ending. A sort of Avalon, if you will."

She heaved out a sigh

Kokonoe:"Alright. Lost child of the day, you may enter…"

The room starts to brighten up, revealing the messy papers scattered on the floor along with a weird glowing liquid tank in the background. The sound of a mechanical door opening echoes throughout the room, and from the shadows, stepped forth a very pissed off shrine maiden.

Reimu: "Ow...my head...huh? Where am I?"

Kokonoe: "Seriously? I was just explaining it a couple sentences ago…"

Reimu: "Your voice?!"

The shrine maiden got out her Gohei, and pointed it towards the professor.

Reimu: "You're that person from Sector whatever!"

This only annoyed the scientist.

Kokonoe: "Hey! Put that thing away. You're not going to accomplish anything by blowing me up here. In fact, that's only going to trap you in here for eternity."

Reimu: "Oh yeah?"

Kokonoe: "Yeah! So just calm down and listen to what I have to say!"

Reimu did not, as she was still pointing her wand in a threatening manner. Kokonoe sighed.

Kokonoe: "Look, I get it. You've been through some rough shit. Which is why I need you to put your wand down, so that I can help you, ok?"

Reimu hesitated for a second, before putting away her Gohei.

Reimu: "Ok. Sorry…"

Kokonoe: "It's okay kiddo. I understand."

Reimu: "So, what is this place exactly?"

Kokonoe: "Oh geez, I really don't feel like explaining all of that over again." She got out a smart phone from her pocket, and tossed it to the shrine maiden. "Scroll a page or so up."

Reimu did so.

Reimu: "...Ok, I think I get it. So, later on I'll have a new ending?"

Kokonoe: "No."

Reimu: "No?"

Kokonoe got out a couple of papers, scanning through each of them carefully.

Kokonoe: "Unfortunately for you, it seems that this was actually your canon ending. I can't seem to find a 'bad ending' for you"

Reimu: "Wait, you're saying that whatever happens, it all ends the exact same way it just did a couple of minutes ago?"

Kokonoe: "Ehhh, kind of? There will certainly be fluctuations in the shifts, but none of them will be by you. Seems like fate has a hate boner for you, kiddo"

Reimu: "What the hell? Then what am I even doing here, if I can't change anything?!"

Kokonoe scratched the back of her head sheepishly.

Kokonoe: "Well...technically this room isn't supposed to directly help you. As soon as you leave this room, all that transpired here will be immediately erased from your memory."

Reimu: "Wait, the fuck? How are you actually helping me if i don't remember any of your advices?"

Kokonoe: "Like I said, the gains are mostly not for you, but for them…" She stuck her thumb towards the audience. Reimu looks back at you, then back towards the professor.

Reimu: "This is, like, the most counterproductive counselling system. Ever…."

Kokonoe: "…Yeah…."

Reimu: "Of all ti-"

Kokonoe: "Ok, yeah, it doesn't make much sense. But both of us are stuck in this room at the moment, so we should probably go with it!"

Reimu: "But I apparently only have one ending. How exactly are we going to do this then?"

Kokonoe: "Well, sure your individual story arc ends here, but the true canon ending remains to be found. So maybe I'm supposed to help you get there?"

Reimu: "Pfft, Might as well!" She got a chair from the back, and lazily sat down. "It's not like I'm going to even remember any of your advices anyways…"

Kokonoe: "Oh quit your crying! Now, for your case, this is going to a little more complicated than the usual sessions. I can't really tell you to "go here instead of there", or "Do this instead of that". We'll probably need to work on your general problems in the current shift."

Reimu: "Fine. Go ahead…"

Kokonoe: "Alright, then let's start with this." From behind, a giant projection screen starts to roll down. A projection of Hazama then appeared on the screen, having the biggest shit eating grin on his face.

Kokonoe: "Alright, first of all-" She stopped midsentence when she suddenly felt an intense wave of killing intent coming from the shrine maiden. "Alright, first of all, we work on that."

Reimu: "W _hat_.."

Kokonoe: "We got to work on your anger issues."

Reimu: "I don't have any anger issues.."

Kokonoe: "Usually you don't. From what I can tell, getting angry over something is too much of an effort for you. But apparently, not for him."

Reimu: "That man is responsible for the corruption of my home, countless deaths both directly and indirectly, the capture of a beloved friend I've known since I was a little kid, whom I never thought I would see again, and not to mention he has a thing for stomping me in the head…" she softly massaged her temple at that last bit.

Kokonoe: "Yes, yes, yes, I understand. Believe me, I know, he's a prick. But letting it get to you is counterproductive-"

Reimu: "As much as this counselling session?"

Kokonoe: " _Listen_ , he wants you to hate him. That's his game plan. He is literally rooted into this world through the hatred of others. Consequently, he also gets stronger the more you hate him. Basically, if you keep this up, you are not only making it impossible to defeat him, but for other people that are trying to bring him down as well. As such, people might feel obligated to take you out first. Understand?"

Reimu: "Hmph."

Kokonoe sighed.

Reimu: "Alright! I'll try to control my temper next time, ok? Not like I'll remember, or anything..."

Kokonoe: "Good. Though, that in it of itself will be hard. All because of what's next."

Kokonoe clicked a button on a remote controller, and then the projection screen flickered to an image of a metallic green snake head.

Kokonoe: "Remember this?"

Reimu: "Yeah. Thing stung like a bitch."

Kokonoe: "Do you recall having any problems with your thoughts during the fight?"

Reimu: "Actually, yeah. My head was so hazy during the fight, I could barely concentrate enough to throw a good punch."

Kokonoe: "That's probably because of this thing." She pointed towards the projection screen. "Nox Nyctores class: Geminus Anguium: Ouroboros, a Nox designed to attack the victim's psyche. It focuses on abusing a person's mental weakness, invoking past tragedies, amplifying negative emotions, reducing concentration...etcetera."

Reimu: "Ugh, Mind games…"

Kokonoe: "You've dealt with this before?"

Reimu: "Kinda. You sort of have to when you get into danmaku duels with people like Reisen or Satori."

Kokonoe: "Well, try to use that experience when you face him. If there's ever a starting point to fix your intense hatred for him, it's probably there."

Reimu: "Gotcha. So is that all?"

The sound of the doors unlocking echoes the room.

Kokonoe: "Pretty much...you're free to go."

And with that, Reimu quickly got out of seat, and headed straight for the door.

Kokonoe: "Before you leave, I can at least give you one tip that might change things for the better. Hopefully one that you remember once you leave here.." Reimu turned around and gave the professor her attention. "Give up on fighting Terumi. You're just going to become an obstacle. Better you let your friends deal with him."

Reimu: "..."

The door then opened, with the shrine maiden leaving without another word. Kokonoe sighed, and pulled out another sheet of paper. On it was written:

-Reimu Hakurei completed

-Remilia Scarlet-_

-Rumia-_

-Marisa Kirisame-_

-Alice Margatriod-_

-Youmu Konpaku-_

-Sakuya Izayoi-_

-Mokou no Fujiwara-_

-Kaguya Houraisan-_

-More to be announced

Kokonoe: "This is going to be a looong incident…"


	8. Scarlet Observer

**(BGM: Blazblue: Blue Beating)**

…

_**Remilia Scarlet** _

Drive: Bloody Universe

Age: 500 + (?)

Height: 4'8 ft

Weight: 34 kg

Blood Type: Unknown

Affiliation: Scarlet Devil Mansion

Position: Headmaster/ Mistress

Relatives: Flandre (Younger sister)

Hobbies: Teatime

Values: Charisma, Family

Likes: Tea

Dislikes: The Sun, Charisma breaks.

Natural Enemy: Takamagahara

Theme: Accept Bloody Fate (Septette for a dead princess IOSYS Minami)

Power: ***

Defense: ****

Speed: *****

_Remilia is the Headmaster of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, and is known throughout the land as the "Scarlet Devil". After her defeat by the hands of the Hakurei Shrine Maiden, Reimu Hakurei, she and her entourage quickly assimilated into the Gensokyian community, roaming the land at night, and watching over it at dawn. From time to time, she even does her part in solving incidents, and protecting the people. Once the seithr outbreak came, she and the SDM was one of the first figure heads to lend support to the local communities, including giving emergency supplies and rations to the human village. In conjunction, she was also the one who supported Reimu's plan the most, stating that there was no other alternative. However, while crossing the boundary, she was separated from her comrades…_

**Risk Rating: A**

**Scarlet Observer**

**Orient Town**

It was mostly your typical day in the district of Orient Town. Many of the pedestrians moved through the street at a casual pace, heading towards their desired locations, which included many oriental Chinese restaurants, pawn shops, and other commercial stops. Like always, lots of children were running down the place, screaming in excitement and dashing towards the toy stores for the new deals that were being offered. With all the commotion, it was pretty easy to miss the flashes of light coming from a certain secluded alley way. From the light, a ripple in space was forming. The air split apart to reveal a dark portal. From the portal, a young looking girl with bat wings on her back shot forward, which then closed afterwards. Her head collided with the brick wall in front of her, and she crouched down, cradling her head in pain. Not from her head hitting the pavement, but from the rather brutal headache she was suffering from her time in the Boundary.

" _What was that…?"_ she thought to herself.

While she was floating in the boundary for an ungodly amount of time,(which in actuality was only at most ten minutes), her brain felt like it was being split apart from all directions. It was as if thousands upon thousands of timelines was crashing down onto her mind. What's worse, thanks to her gift of seeing the fates of people as red lines, she saw and observed thousands upon thousands of lifelines of one person. Everywhere she looked, there were almost millions of red lines, covering her field of vision. The sheer abundance of information was just about to drive her insane, until suddenly she found a bright portal in front of her. Taking this as a sign of benevolence from the gods, she quickly hauled ass through the portal, and now here she was, in a dark alley way. It took her a while, but she managed to quell the ringing sensation in her head. All she had to do was relax her senses, and turn off the ability to see fate.

It was then she realized something. In her torment, she completely lost her party in the boundary. Flan, Sakuya, Reimu, Marisa, everyone she'd gone with, they were no where in sight. She silently uttered a curse, and lifted the veil to reach out to the others, by viewing their fates, starting with Reimu's. She immediately regretted the action, though.

"It can't be…"

When she looked into Reimu's fate, instead of normally seeing just one line, there were multiple thousands-nay, _millions_ of them. The vampire's vision started to become so dizzy that she nearly damn near passed out at that moment. She immediately relaxed her senses once again.

"Why?" she questioned out loud. "Why is Reimu's fate?" She looked down onto her hands, pondering on what she saw. "So many possibilities…" She was beginning to wonder if her power to gaze into the fates had somehow gone haywire. That was impossible though, she _knew_ what she saw. That was no illusion. Her hands tightened up into fists.

"What is happening?"

In her inner turmoil, she failed to register the sounds of someone talking to her. She turned her gaze away from her fists, and looked forward, realizing that there was someone standing in front of her.

"Hey, are you alright?" the voice asked in a worried tone. The girl looked young, around her mid teens maybe, and had a dark complexion with darker navy blue hair. She was wearing a white Chinese looking outfit, with blue decorations. In her hands were paper bags of what looked typical grocery items. "You were kind of mumbling to yourself a bit there...eh?!" Now that she got a better look of Remilia, she noticed how battered up the girl looked. "Oh my god!" She gasped in alarm. "You look pale! Here, come with me!" she said as she grabbed Remilia's wrist.

Remilia quickly tried to withdraw her hand. "W-wait!" but was too late, as the young stranger pulled her hand out in the sunlight beyond the alley way's shadows. "Ahhh!" she hissed in pain, and pulled her hand away from the dark girl.

The dark girl looked perplexed at what happened, until she suddenly noticed the two appendages hanging out of the girl's back. " _Are those...bat wings?"_ Maybe some sort of bat beastkin, she concluded. That was when she put two and two together. Duh! Bats are nocturnal creatures, and they hate the sun!

"S-sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you!" She quickly said, and looked around where she stood. "Okay, I'll be right back. Don't move, okay?" and with that she quickly dashed away. Around two minutes later, she came back with a Chinese parasol in her hand. She gently motioned the parasol towards the vampire, pleading her to take it. "It's okay" she cooed. "I won't hurt you."

Remilia sensed no malevolence in her voice. She carefully extended her arm, and gently took the parasol. Taking it as a sign of trust, the dark girl extended her hand.

"My name's Linhua. What's your name?" she asked in a friendly tone.

"R-Remi..." she decided to use the abbreviated form, not fully ready to disclose her full name.

"Well Remi," Linhua smiled "I'm an assistant to a doctor, whose clinic is not too far away. We can go there, and treat your wounds. Would you like that?" She inched her outstretched hand closer. Remilia pondered on the choice. She didn't feel any ill will coming from the girl, so she nodded, and took her hand.

"Alright!" Linhua's smile increased in size. She stood up, and pulled the smaller girl to her feet.

"Shall we go?"

"Yes."

The walk towards the clinic was pleasantly uneventful. Using the parasol, she carefully tried to push all of her body under its protective cover from the sun. Now outside the alley way, she finally had the chance to observe her new surroundings. There were a lot of humans walking among her, all happily chatting away with their friends and families. With the exception of looking more modern, this place wasn't as unusual like she originally thought. Honestly, she was expecting mutant outer beings with tentacles protruding out of their faces roaming around advanced floating cities up in space.

"Everyone's cleaning up from the festival last night." Linhua's voice shook her out of her thoughts.

"Huh...is that so…"

"Hmm...you're not from around here are you?"

"Huh?" Was she that transparent?

"Yeah, I can tell because you got that 'where the hell am I?' look when I found you." Linhua flashed a supportive smile. "Hey, after you get better, want me to give you a tour?"

Remilia offered a rueful smile. "Forgive me, but there's something I have to take care of first." There's a world to save after all...

"Ahh...that right? Well, until then, we'll have to fix you up good so you can be in the right condition to tackle whatever trials await you!"

"I...thank you" Remilia smiled graciously.

Linhua replied with a friendly thumbs up. "Ah, speaking of that, looks like we're here."

Together, they stood in front of a small, but well maintained clinic. Linhua was the first to head in, shouting once she was inside "Litchi-sensei, I'm back! And I have a patient with me!" Sitting deeper within the building, in front of a work desk was a well endowed woman scribbling away on a sheet of paper. "Oh my…" she gasped when she saw Remilia coming in. Her dress had rips and tears on some areas, and there were a couple of purple hues decorating her ghostly pale skin. "You poor thing!" She motioned the small girl towards the bed. The vampire reluctantly followed her deeper into the clinic.

"Linhua, could you please get me a wet rag, and my medical kit?"

"Right away, Sensei!"

As Linhua was away, Litchi leaned in closer to inspect the other girl. For a while, both the doctor and Remilia could only stare at each other awkwardly.

" _Are those...bat wings?"_ The doctor pondered.

" _Is that a...panda on her head?"_ Her vision was purely focused on a small panda bear hiding on top of the doctor's head. After a couple of seconds, the little critter scampered deeper into the hair, until it was out of sight. Her attention then was drifted downwards, only for her to quickly turn away, flustered. Litchi looked downwards, confused at the reaction. She quickly got the hint though, and calmly moved her arms to cover her chest.

She cleared her throat, before asking the smaller girl, "How do you feel?"

"I'm feeling well for the moment."

"Those wings…" Litchi pointed towards the dangling wings "Are you a beastkin of bat origins?"

"Beastkin?" Remilia's eyebrows furrowed. "Forgive me, I do not know of the term. Are your people not familiar with vampires?"

"Vampires? I've heard of them in stories, and there have been some historical sightings of them in the past. Still I've never met one before." She bowed low "It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Doctor Litchi Faye-Ling"

Remilia's eyes softened as she felt her guard starting to relax.

"Remilia Scarlet", she introduced herself fully with a slight nod, "And the pleasure is all mine, Doctor."

"Litchi Sensei!" Linhua's voice suddenly came through the door. "Here you go" the assistant said as she handed the bucket of water and medical box down close to where the doctor was sitting.

"Thank you dear" Litchi picked up the hot wet cloth, and rolled up the small vampire's sleeves to wash the light purple hues on her arm. However, as she was about to wash the vampire's arm, her hand froze when she noticed something odd about the purple marks. She assumed that these marks were bruises caused by physical trauma. The color was too dark however, and it had a very faint glow to it. To anyone else, it would've been easily mistaken as bruises or some sort of natural medical phenomena. Not to Litchi however.

"Linhua.." Litchi started. "I'm going to need a fresh resupply of rubbing alcohol…"

"Eh?! But...don't we already have plenty of-"

"Linhua... _now_...please..." Litchi said quietly, with a hint of dangerous urgency.

"Uh-uh...roger that ma'am!" Linhua saluted, and quickly headed out of the front door. Now that she was all alone, her eyes sharpened into slits. "Now,what exactly were you doing playing around in the boundary?" she asked, suspicion high in the air.

At the question, Remilia's eyes widened a little in alarm.

"These purple spots…" Litchi continued "Are symptoms of an organism suffering from the reverse flow of seithr. Caused by seithr found only in the Boundary…" Perhaps she was a bit too quick to judge. Knowledge about the seithr in the Boundary means that this doctor might have knowledge about Gensokyo. Who knows? This person could very well be the person responsible for it's seithr problem. The kind doctor was then regarded as a potential foe. And so, Remilia kept quiet.

"What were you doing within the boundary?"

"I'm afraid I cannot say"

"How long were you in there"

"The specific duration is also lost to me"

"Was it more than a minute?"

The nature of the question seemed awkward to Remilia. "Uh...I believe so, yes?"

With a disapproving click of her tongue, Litchi lowered her gaze a bit. "That's...longer than how he lasted…" Remilia heard no malice in her voice. Instead, all she heard was desperation. This didn't alleviate the sense of alarm however. Desperation often goes hand in hand with danger. Suddenly, there was the sound of frantic knocking from the front door.

"Miss Litchi! Your assistance is needed!" A loud, and awfully scruffy voice echoed from outside.

"Is that Mr. Bang? Coming!" She gave one last glance at the vampire, most likely as a warning to stay put, before heading up and opening the door. Once she did, a gruff looking man with brown spiky hair and a large X shaped scar on his face walked in hastily. In his arms was a small boy, covered in tears, wounds, blood, and some burn marks. His clothes was in tatters, his purple cape hanging ungracefully from the scruffy ninja's arms. Behind the tall man was an even taller looking entity wobbling through the door. She could quickly see that it was no human, rather, it looked like a giant mechanical robot. Like the boy, the doll looked banged up, sporting multiple dents on its (her?) head and body.

"Mr. Bang! What happened?!"

"Master Carl...he needs medical attention quickly!" Both of them then rushed over to a separate medical bed, not too far away from Remilia's. The doctor quickly moved to her medical kit, and got some cloth to staunch the blood seeping out of the various wounds on the boy.

"What happened?!" she repeated.

"I-I don't know! I was just scouring the city until I found his sister pulling him out of a pile of rocks!" Bang said as he helped put pressure on the wound. "I looked around to see who could have done this to my precious apprentice…"

"And…?" Litchi inquired.

"Um…" Bang stammered, "Miss Litchi, I know what I'm about to say may seem...strange, but…" Remilia couldn't help but invest some of her interest on the current topic. So, she quietly inched her ear closer to the ninja and doctor.

"But….?"

"The only person present that I saw was a woman in red and white clothing...flying into the sky."

There was only one person that Remilia knew that fit that description. " _Reimu!"_

"What? Are you serious?"

"You believe me, don't you, Miss Litchi?" Bang asked in a near pleading tone.

Litchi slumped her shoulders with a mixture of astonishment and uncertainty on her face. "I don't know" she said with a sigh, "It could very well be some levitation Ars. I mean, It isn't the weirdest thing I've heard lately. Just the other day, there was a giant explosion in the sky, and just today I met a Va-" she turned to the bed the vampire was laying on, only to find the small girl missing. From the corner of the room, she could hear a slight creaking of the back door. Turning around, she spotted the small vampire, with the parasol in hand, running out of the back door.

"Hey! Shoot..." She turned her attention back to the boy. "Mr. Bang, could I ask you to retrieve that girl back here?" Her eyes hardened as she said, "I need her."

"Uh...right!" Without a second thought crossing his mind, the ninja immediately made a dash out of the same back door.

…

In actuality, Remilia had no clue where she was going. Still though, that didn't slow her down as she dashed through several buildings down the road. The only thing she knew was that Reimu was apparently somewhere around the same location she was in, which meant it was time to be on the look out. The sun's presence in the sky makes flight impossible, which meant that she was stuck on foot for now.

" _Reimu….Reimu…."_ was the only thing she was thinking at the moment. Once she finds the shrine maiden, perhaps that could be the first step in locating the others, and possibly fixing this whole incident.

"Halt, little lady!" a familiar scruffy voice yelled from seemingly out of nowhere. Remilia immediately skidded to a stop by an old abandoned warehouse to find out who addressed her. In front of her, the ninja she saw back in the clinic appeared out of nowhere. "And where do you think you're going, young one? Your wounds have not been treated properly, after all. I must ask that you come back to Miss Litchi's clinic"

"These wounds of mine will heal on their own in no time." Remilia retorted. "Furthermore, I have more important matters that needs my immediate attention, so if you would be kind as to move out of my way?" she asked politely, but with a hint of dangerous intent in her voice.

"I'm afraid I can't do that. Miss Litchi has requested that I take you back immediately. Also, it would be irresponsible of me to simply allow a wounded child to run around in the streets." He said as he got closer to the girl.

Remilia responded back by fully revealing her bat wings, spreading them wide underneath the parasol, as if to make her seem bigger and intimidating. "Do I look like a normal child to you?"

At this, the ninja took a few steps back. "Those wings!" he cried out in surprise. "Are you perhaps…. a devil?!"

"Hmph, I couldn't think of a more perfect title to give myself" she grinned proudly, thinking that she had elicited fear into the man. However, that fear was instantly purged, and a righteous flame burned in his eyes.

**BGM: Gale (Blazblue)**

"Then...that must mean that you are an agent of evil!" He bluntly shouted. "And as Ikaruga's defender of love and justice, I cannot simply stand idle as you do your nefarious deeds!"

Remilia's brow furrowed. Is this man serious? First, he comes out of his way to see that she was to be treated medically. Now he wants to engage in possible lethal combat? Remilia could feel her eyelids twitching at the absurdity of it all. "Your logical reasoning is rather….linear to a fault. Are you some kind of idiot?"

"Your taunts won't work on me, devil!" He said as he crouched low, motioning with his hand to come at him. "Come, and show me what you can do!"

"I don't have time for this." The vampire bared her claws, fully prepared for combat as she held the parasol over her body with a spare hand. "Very well then. Let me show you the wrath of the Scarlet Devil" As she finished her sentence, her eyes burned with a crimson hue.

"Very well!" Bang clapped his hands together, and suddenly disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Instead, a sudden barrage of needles appeared out of the cloud, all flying towards her. Remilia responded by stretching her wings forward to block all of the needles, each of them bouncing off her wing harmlessly. The vampire's heightened senses alerted her something from behind. She turned around and saw the ninja, who then brought down his fist in one fiery punch.

She easily reacts by blocking the fiery fist with an open palm. "Such a simple trick won't work on me, _ninja_ " Remilia chided, emphasizing his title with mockery. She then tightened her grip around the ninja's fist, painfully twisting it and forcing the ninja into a kneeling position.

"Urgh!" Bang cried out in pain.

Remilia then pulled back then leaned forward, using both of her wings to smash against the ninja, sending him tumbling into the abandoned warehouse. With that, the vampire started to walk away. The ninja leapt to his feet to find the small vampire retreating. "You shall not escape!" He said as he flung three needles towards Remilia. Remilia turned around when she heard the screaming, and to Bang's horrific surprise, one of the needle managed to hit right between the Vampire's eyes. The tip of the projectile was then plunged through her forehead, and Blood started to spurt out as her head was bent backwards from the impact.

"Oh no!" Bang shouted, fearing that the nail might have dealt a fatal blow. He never meant to kill the vampire. All he wanted was to knock her out and bring her back to the clinic. Bang expected the vampire to fall down ungracefully, dead from the obviously lethal wound. However, at the last minute before losing balance, the body stiffened up for a second before recomposing herself.

Bang was at a loss for words.

Remilia then lolled her head forward so that it was tilted normally. Her eyes were one of confusion as a thin trail of blood flowed down from her forehead, with the nail still firmly lodged inside her skull. Once she acknowledged the metal tool between her eyes, her face scrunched up in mere annoyance. Without any hesitation, she boldly ripped the nail out of her head, with nary a flinch of pain. She held it in her hand for a second, before crushing it in a fist. Scarlet light leaked through the cracks of her fist, and the bundle of energy grew and grew until it was formed into the shape of a red spear.

"Here…" she said with a grin. "Let me RETURN THIS TO YOU!" she then chucked the giant red spear directly at the stunned ninja. What followed was a massive explosion that leveled the entire building, tumbling down onto the floor. Remilia watched as the entire foundation of concrete came crashing down onto her opponent. For a while, the air around her was quiet. The only sounds registering to her was the sound of feet rapidly tapping onto the ground, most likely from nearby pedestrians frantically running away from the loud explosion she made not too long ago. She allowed a smug smile to form on her face as she flexed her fingers. Red electricity flowed alongside her digits.

"Looks like I still got it"

The quiet atmosphere was changed in an instant when a loud boom crackled through the air.

"Huh?"

She turned around to see a massive familiar beam of white light shooting up into the air from the distance. It's holy radiance searing up and dispersing the clouds up in the clear blue sky. Remilia instantly recognized the source of the light, and immediately took off running further into the city.

"Reimu…"

Far off in the distance, there was a small figure standing on top of a building roof. She had long beautiful blonde hair tied up in two pigtails, and she wore an elegant black and red dress fitting of a noble. By her side were two familiars; one was a fat floating bat floating next to her head, and the other was a rather large black cat sitting next to her legs. She smirked at the sight of the vampire running towards the Bascule bridge.

"Golley, that sure was a huge explosion!" the red bat exclaimed in a high pitched squeaky tone.

"Which one? The large bright one in the distance, or the one the ninja was subjected to?" the black cat responded.

"Come to think of it, we've been having a lot more explosions compared to the usual."

"Hmmm~ it sure makes things around here a little more interesting. Don't you think, princess?" The cat directed the question towards his master, who neither answered him back, nor even so much as offered a glance in his direction. Instead, her attention was purely focused on the little vampire running down the street underneath her oriental parasol.

"Princess, is she one of the…?"

The small girl giggled, flashing her fangs as she did. "What a peculiar phenomenon."

…

"By the gods...what is going on here?" Remilia wondered to herself as she stood on top of a small building a couple feet away from the commotion. Currently, she was looking at what seems to be a street brawl between a person in white robes and a giant red man, who was actually losing despite his massive size. A ring of bystanders covered the two combatants, risking danger from a crossfire, for the sake of watching a brutal death match. It certainly was interesting, but it wasn't what she was looking for.

"Where are you Reimu?"

Her vampiric enhanced eyesight scoped through the entire surroundings, but she didn't see any shrine maidens. She also couldn't feel her presence nearby at all. Is she hiding? But why? And from whom? Godsdamn, this girl knew how to hide her presence when she doesn't want to be found. Doesn't she know that there might be allies looking for her as well?

"Look at me," she whispered to herself, much to her chagrin, "Getting frustrated like this…hm?" Out of nowhere, a heavy aroma blasted her senses. It kind of smelled like…

"...Roses?"

Everything suddenly faded to black, and she felt a wave of vertigo. The experience happened only for a short while before she found herself in an entirely new surrounding. Instead of on top of a building in the middle of a vast city with the sun up above her head, she was standing in the middle of an elegant rose garden in the middle of the night. She wondered to herself where she was. The familiar sound of porcelain cups clinking behind her shook her out of her thoughts. What she saw when she turned around was a girl that looked about the same age she did (aesthetically at least), with long blonde pigtails reaching down to her legs, and her sitting beside an expensive looking silver table. Her eyes were closed as she took a sip of tea. Once she put the cup back on a plate, she turned towards Remilia.

"Welcome, my fellow Draculina." She offered a smile. "Would you care to join me?" She said as she motioned her cup to the empty chair at the other end of the table.


	9. Realize The Fates

TA: This is a rather interesting change of events.

TB: Indeed. Who would've thought that we would receive such a large intervention?

TC: Yes. The probability of a phenomenon this grand a scale occurring about now is approximately 9,573,865 to 1.

TA: No matter. Their presence is not one of this reality. Without a proper observer to anchor them into this realm, these nuisances will soon fade in the currents of time.

TB: Very well, then we shall prepare a sequence of shifts for them, until they are no more.

TC: Yes. Preparing contingencies routes for the Continuum Shift...

Reimu Hakurei….The Shrine Maiden of Paradise...Complete

Marisa Kirisame….The Ordinary Magician...Complete

Alice Margatroid...The Seven Colored Puppeteer….Complete

Remilia Scarlet...Scarlet Observer of Fate...Complete

Youmu Konpaku...Mighty Swordsman of the Netherworld...Complete

Sakuya Izayoi…Elegant Servant of the Devil...Complete

Suika Ibuki...The Pandemonium...Complete

Cirno...Ice Fairy...Complete

Flandre Scarlet...Scarlet Sister of Destruction...Complete

Fujiwara no Mokou...Immortal Phoenix of Hourai...Complete

Kaguya Houraisan…Immortal Princess of the Moon...Complete

TA: Very well. Commence with the timeline. Let these fools disappear in the cycles of the Continuum Shift…

…

"Who are you?" Remilia asked warily.

Rachel calmly brought the brim of her cup to her lips, taking in a sip of tea. "Who knows?" The blonde girl replied. "Am I an ally? An enemy? A friend? An advisor? An observer? One who would help in combat? Or one who would stand against you? The future is full of mysteries, and the possibilities are endless. So that also begs the question; do these possibilities lead into one another? Or are these routes simply separate concepts? But something as confounding as the future should be simple for someone as you. Right?" The girl's eyes started to glow red, "Madam Scarlet?"

Remilia dropped her parasol, and conjured up a red glowing spear from her hand.

"Oh my, so quick to violence, aren't you?" The blonde chided.

"How do you know who I am? How do you know _what_ I am? Who are you?" Remilia asked.

The girl in question simply took another sip of tea, before placing it onto the plate. "You will learn of what I am soon enough. For now, let me properly introduce myself. My name is Rachel Alucard. You are in my domain. A place made for beings such as ourselves."

"Ourselves?" Remilia caught a glimpse of the pair of fangs in the other girl's mouth. "You mean for vampires?"

Rachel giggled lightly. "Not exactly."

Remilia wasn't fully satisfied. "You seem to know a lot. Too much to be deemed not a threat."

"I watched you." Rachel said with a smirk. "Ever since you came out of the Boundary. I've watched you as you walked towards the clinic, and as you ran to search for your friend. I spectated your battle with the ninja, and was impressed with the power you wield. Not only in combat, but also your unique ability. I was also able to see your struggles with it."

Remilia looked abash, looking away with a blush on her face. Rachel giggled and said, "No need to be embarrassed. Here…" she pointed across the table, towards a steaming cup of tea. "Your tea is getting cold." Remilia could only stare at the other vampire. Was this a peace offering? Was the tea spiked? Or perhaps poisoned. Oh but how she hated cold tea…

Remilia sighed, allowing a chagrined smirk and dissipating the red spear within her palm. "Thank you for your hospitality" she muttered before traversing across the ocean of thornless roses. She gracefully took a seat opposite of the blonde and grabbed hold of the cup, unsure whether to drink it's contents. Her gaze met the other vampire, who in return flashed a friendly smile. Flustered, she returned her attention back to the tea. She eventually gave in to it's enticing aroma, and reluctantly took in a sip, savoring it's sweet flavor. She moaned in bliss.

"Delicious!"

"The tea leaves were just picked recently."

"It has a very floral aftertaste. Darjeeling?" Remilia asked.

"Indeed." The blonde nodded,

Remilia sighed whimsically. "Those are rare where I'm from. We usually save those for special occasions..." Remilia became quiet for a second. Her smile becoming hollow at the mentioning of her home.

Rachel noticed the other vampire's troubles. She chose not to pry, and instead waited patiently until Remilia finally looked at her.

"You seem to know a lot." Remilia said in a resigned tone. "Do you happen to know about my current predicament?"

Rachel took a bite of one of her crumpets, before replying. "No. I have witnessed what you can do, both inside of combat, and outside of it. I don't know what you know, however." Try as she may, Remilia was unable to deny the sincerity in the other vampire's voice. Remilia bit her lip, unsure of what to do.

"You're desperate aren't you?" Rachel noted. "I can see it in your eyes…"

"Hmm…" Remilia couldn't deny that either. One didn't need to be a master of observation to notice the anxiety on her face. The blonde vampire held a somewhat sympathetic look. "Perhaps I might be able to offer some assistance?"

Remilia raised an eyelid at this. "In exchange for what?"

Rachel's smirk never left her face. "My reasons will be revealed in time. That I assure you."

Remilia frowned. "Can I trust you?"

"Ah, now that I can't answer. Nothing I say can fully sway you. The only one who truly knows whether its my fate to stand beside you or against you...is you."

Was this a test? Normally she wouldn't have any objections towards looking into someone's fate to learn about the truth. It was an enlightening habit, to be able to know what the other person would do. To know what's about to happen. To expect the unexpected. It was refreshing to _know._ She had grown so used to this ability that not being able to use it was almost like being half blind. It wasn't enough to see the world visually, that alone could only give her so much information. She was the all-powerful, all seeing Scarlet Devil! It felt good to be the all knowing vampire of Gensokyo. But a great twisted irony existed in this realm. As if fate itself was giving her the biggest of middle fingers, she can't rely on her powers in this world. Usually she would only see a single string, where she could fully see a person's life in one chronological line. Now, instead of seeing one single line, she saw a vast interconnecting network of lifelines everywhere she looked. It was like looking at a large spiderweb, with each string holding the information of the future. Taking it all in was too much for her to handle. Her brain couldn't withstand the stress of that much information flooding her senses. It felt like one giant aneurysm inside her head.

"I-I can't."

"Try." Rachel pressured her calmly.

Remilia gave a resigned sigh. This girl before her was way too interesting. The thought of observing her fate was almost exciting. Would she really stand by her side? How much use would she hold? She does seem to know a lot. Perhaps she would be the key to solving this incident. Remilia closed her eyes, calling upon fate to submit to her. A second later, she opened them, her eyes glowing a brighter shade of red.

The purple haired vampire gasped at what she saw. As expected, there wasn't just a single line, but scarlet strings everywhere she saw. Like looking at a heavy forest, and each branch being the vampire's lifelines. The amount of lifelines for this girl seemed to trump the amount of lifelines Reimu had when she looked back in the alleyway. The information from all the lines then started to flood her consciousness. Tons and tons of images were poured into her mind, ranging from a small boy with spiky hair struggling on the ground with only one arm, to the sight of seeing an entire city being wiped away in an instant by a large monster, to the sight of a man in a black suit laughing at her.

" _Madam Remilia?"_

She couldn't breath. She could swear that dozens of knives were slowly being inserted into her skull. Blood started to drip from her nose and her ears. Her iris travelled in all directions at rapid speeds, trying to make sense of what she was seeing.

" _Remilia!"_

She could vaguely make out the sound of someone calling out to her, but all she heard were the screams of people being devoured by a black beast.

Rachel sighed, placing a palm against the table, sending an intense electric current running along the metallic medium into the other vampire. Remilia jumped up from her seat, her skeleton visible for a split second before she slouched down onto the table, shaking from the voltage.

"W-w-w-whaa.." She sputtered.

"Are you alright?" Rachel asked.

Remilia responded by banging her fists against the table. "It's useless. My powers are useless! To hell with this world! Why can't-"

Rachel was starting to connect the dots together. "What did you see?"

The girl in question slouched against her seat, placing her palms against her head. She then gave in and started to tell the other girl about herself. Who she was, and where she was from, and about the cataclysm that broke out back in her home, and why she traveled here in the first place. Rachel listened intensely, giving her fellow draculina her undivided attention.

"And that's about it." Remilia finished. She managed to calm down a bit as she talked with the other vampire.

"I see. I think I'm starting to understand." Rachel then grinned and asked, "You told me about yourself and about your home realm without knowing whether I'm an enemy or not. How does it feel to throw caution to the wind and relying on your intuition?"

"It felt...unpleasant. I hate this feeling. This feeling of being unsure." She admitted with an embarrassed smile.

"On that, we share a common connection." Rachel got out of her seat.

"Huh?" Remilia looked up from her seat as the other vampire approached her.

"Before I decide whether to help you or not, I want to test something out for a bit." Rachel said. "Valkenhayn!" she called out.

"Yes madam?" Remilia heard a voice behind her all of a sudden. "Ahh!" she screamed and looked behind her. Standing a foot from her chair was an old man in a dark butler's suit, bowing slightly.

"Would you be so kind as to clean up as me and our guest play for a bit?"

"Right away, m'lady" the butler replied respectfully before he began to clean up the utensils on the table. Before she could notice what was going on, her vision blackened for half a second before she found herself standing in the middle of the garden a few feet away from where she was sitting. In front of her, Rachel Alucard stood with a black parasol and a red bat flying next to her head.

"What are we doing?" Remilia asked.

"A friendly duel" Rachel replied. "I wish to test your strength in combat, if you would be so kind"

"A friendly duel, huh?" A thought came to Remilia's head, and she began to grin. "Very well. As gratitude for the tea, I'll play with you. However…" She then took flight and hovered high into the sky, her wings stretching across the full moon. "It will be on my terms."

**BGM: Queen of Rose**

"Oh?" Rachel then floated up towards the sky until she was the same elevation as her opponent. "And what might those terms be?"

Remilia held up three fingers. "Danmaku match. Whoever gets hit three times loses the duel."

Rachel raised an eyebrow. "Danmaku?"

Remilia's grin became larger. "You'll figure it out. Now prepare yourself, Madam Rachel." A large red glowing hexagram suddenly appeared behind the vampire.

Rachel then transformed her parasol into a floating cannon. "All right. Entertain me, Scarlet Devil."

The match began. Remilia started by shooting a large cluster of red orbs right at the blonde vampire, with barely any distance between one another. Rachel reacted quickly by carefully maneuvering herself and her familiars between the orbs, mindful as to not get hit by the glowing projectiles.

" _She really expects me to dodge all these?"_ Rachel thought to herself. She fired off five pink seed shaped bullets at the Scarlet Devil, only to have the vampire dodge each of them as if they were nothing. Another hexagram glowed in front of Remilia. This time, it shot forth six red glowing bat shaped missiles heading towards the blonde vampire. Rachel tried to dodge each of them, only for them to change trajectory and track her down once again. She flew backwards in the air, shooting off more pink cannon projectiles at each of the missiles. She took down five, but was caught off guard when the last one hit her from behind. Luckily, she was quick enough to use Gii as a shield, who was flying beside her the entire duel, nullifying any damage she would've taken.

"W-wha!" the red bat cried out upon being hit.

"That's one…" Rachel mused.

_Remilia:_

_Rachel: X_

"H-hey! That didn't hurt as badly as I thought!" Gii said gratefully.

"Hm?" Rachel took note of this.

"You're going to have to be more stylish than that, Madam Rachel." Remilia gloated at a distance. "Let me show you how it's done." She raised one hand up and summoned another hexagram. From the symbol came forth bright lasers shooting from all directions, each of them refracting off of different angles. Along with the lasers, Remilia shot out hundreds of differently bright colored orbs.

It was beautiful, Rachel thought to herself. The spectacle itself could've been a great artistic masterpiece inside her manor. She then remembered something…

...

_Remilia held up three fingers. "Danmaku match. Whoever gets hit three times loses the match."_

" _She really expects me to dodge all these?" Rachel thought to herself._

" _H-hey! That didn't hurt as badly as I thought!" Gii said gratefully._

…

"Danmaku…." she then figured it out. "Bullet hell."

Remilia smiled when she saw the other vampire piece it together.

Rachel analyzed the array of bullets and lasers in front of her. In truth, these "bullets" were nothing more than mere energy projections shaped into a ball, or whatever else the shooter sees fit, allowing the shooter to fire off multiple rounds with little cost and effort. Any person with basic knowledge of magecraft could be able to pull this off. Admittedly, one would have to be adept at magic to fire off as many as Remilia had done. Luckily for Rachel, she was a master at sorcery.

"Now I see…" The growing grin on her face made it clear how much she was enjoying the duel.

"What was that? Prince-EHHH!" Nago cried out as he was transforming from his cannon form. His body became slimmer, and the barrel of the gun started to divide into six separate gun barrels, all of them rotating.

"This is a test of beauty and reactions." she said as she started revving up her new black gatling gun, her grin widening so that her sharp fangs were visible. The gun started to spew a continuous stream of multi-colored bullets right at Remilia. She dodged and retaliated with her own stream of bullets.

"That's it. That's how it's done!" Remilia commented as she flew through the air alongside her opponent. Rachel dodged each of the lasers and balls of light with elegance and Remilia danced through all of Alucard's bullets, weaving through the occasional lightning striking down from the sky.

Rachel had other tricks up her sleeves too. As her gatling gun was firing, she took hold of one of her pink bat shaped seeds and threw them at the vampire. As expected, Remilia successfully dodged the seed. However, with a snap of her fingers, the seed erupted in an electrical explosion, sending multiple sparks of light in different directions. One managed to hit Remilia in the back when she noticed too late.

Remilia froze for a little bit, her bones showing for a split second. "N-n-not bad"

_Remilia: X_

_Rachel:X_

Meanwhile, below the battle, Valkenhayn watched the duel progress as he set up new plates and cups on the table.

"Marvelous…"

From the ground looking up, the little duel the madam had with her guest lit up the entire dark sky with bright lights and explosions of different colors. It looked as if an entire store worth of fireworks just combusted up in the air at the same time. It was chaotic, yet mesmerising. He also noticed how his master was smiling through the whole ordeal. It was the first time in a long while he saw the little vampire actually having fun. It was a fulfilling sight to say the least.

"It looks as though the battle is dying down. I should probably get the table ready."

…

_Remilia: XX_

_Rachel:XX_

The battle did continue. Both vampires were now tied. Whoever could land the last hit would win, and both were determined to attain victory.

On Remilia's side, she fired off multiple bat shaped missiles and multi directional lasers, followed by an endless barrage of energy bullets. Rachel retaliated with a more focused stream of bullets coming from her gun while summoning down lightning bolts from the sky, and even summoned some bat familiars with fans in their bodies to help her move around faster. They both zipped around each other, hoping to land that one last hit to seal their victory. Remilia trapped the other vampire in a small space by conjuring her lasers around Rachel, forcing her in one place.

"It's over." Remilia said confidently, conjuring up Gungnir in one hand.

"Indeed, it is." Rachel dropped the gatling gun, and from her hand summoned forth a large red lightning bolt. She snapped her finger, and multiple continuous streams of lightning surrounded Remilia on all sides, limiting her movement options.

"It seems we find ourself at a stalemate" Remilia mused.

"That we do." Rachel agreed.

Remilia prepared her spear, as Rachel raised her own spear of lightning. They both threw their weapons at the same time. The spear of lightning grazed off the side of Gungnir, flying both of them right towards each vampire's torso. Each hit their mark at the exact same time, sending both girls tumbling down from the sky.

"Princess!" Nago cried out from the ground. He changed form from his gatling gun into a massive trampoline. Both vampires eventually fell down from the air, bouncing harmlessly off the black surface.

"Princess!" Gii floated towards the two vampires. Both of them laid on the trampoline with wide grins on their faces. Remilia's smile broke into fits of giggles.

The butler walked towards the pair and announced, "The tea is ready, madams."

Both vampires turned to one another and flashed a smile at each other.

"Would you care for another cup of tea?" Rachel asked.

Remilia nodded.

…

"The Continuum Shift?" Remilia asked.

Rachel took a sip of her tea before replying. "Yes. Currently this world is suffering from an endless cycles of resets caused by the entity known as the Master Unit, who resides deep within the Boundary. That is the reason why your powers are going haywire. The lifelines you see are no longer what they seem to be. They are more like possibilities. Instead of seeing one event that _will_ happen, what you see are multiple events that _could_ happen."

"But then that means…"

"Yes. All of the possibilities will occur eventually. It's just a matter of knowing which ones."

"But then how? How does one even manage to decipher all these possibilities?" Remilia took hold of her head and slouched.

Rachel looked at the other vampire for a second before placing her cup of tea on her dish. "Through time, patience, and a little training."

"Huh?" Remilia looked up.

"Tell me, do you know what observers are?" Rachel asked.

Remilia shook her head.

"Then imagine this: in an event where time repeats itself over and over again, there must be a few individuals who can witness these cycles taking place, otherwise these shifts would be nothing more than fantasy. People who anchor these shifts in the realm of reality are known as observers. Simply put, observers are ones who are selected to see all the possibilities of the continuum shift."

"I...see…"

"Observership is usually attained when they are given the title, like myself. However, being able to witness the time loops already makes one an observer. Uncertain factors would need something to help them observe, usually technology or ars magus. But you weren't granted observership, yet you clearly acknowledge the loop's existence."

"What are you saying?" Remilia tilted her head.

"That you are a natural Observer, Remilia." the blonde said as she looked directly into the other vampire's eyes. "Your awesome command of Fate has not abandoned you. Nay, it has adapted its purpose." The blonde leaned forward and continued. "It will be your burden to observe your friends. That will be the greatest assistance anyone could give them."

"I-I don't think I can." Remilia said disheartededly. "Looking at so many lifelines is too much on me. I can't do it."

"You don't have a choice." Rachel said.

"Huh?"

"I'm sorry to say this, but even more troubles lie waiting in this realm. For you, and your friends." Rachel said sympathetically.

…

Nago and Gii watched the two vampires chatting as they sat a few feet away. From the looks of things, those two were really hitting it off.

"It's kind of nice seeing the princess getting along with another person." Nago commented.

"It's kind of weird though. Did you see the princess laughing a second ago? Scary…" Gii replied.

"Oh hush now. There's nothing wrong with making some friends. The princess could sure use some nowadays." Nago said, whispering a little at the last comment.

"Oh definitely. Though sometimes it feels like I'm looking at two princesses." Gii inquired.

Nago nodded his head in agreement.

"What?!" The two familiars jumped up in surprise at the purple haired vampire's outburst.

…

"It's just as I said. Your friends are in danger." Rachel explained once again. As she spoke, a light wind rippled around them. "Unless they have someone observing them, they will suffer a fate worse than death. They will disappear from this reality, and what awaits them after will be neither heaven nor hell. Just eternal nothingness."

"But how can that be?!" Remilia asked.

"Since both you and your friends are not from this realm, the world will try to rectify that problem by denying their existence." Rachel elaborated. "If they are not to be observed later, then as the shifts continue, their presence will start to weaken until they're nothing but ghosts. And after that, they will be gone forever, in the current timeline and the next."

"But...that is...wait!" Remilia stammered until she came up with a plan. "You said you were an observer, right?" Remilia asked with a hint of desperation in her voice.

Rachel leaned back into her chair, folding her arms and raising her eyebrows. "Yes?" she replied, already knowing what the other vampire was going to say.

Remilia bowed her head from her seat, unable to meet the other vampire's eyes. "Um." The girl started. "I apologize greatly for even asking you this, Madam Rachel. I know it's asking for a lot, but could you-"

"You want me to observe all of your friends." Rachel said simply.

Remilia looked up. "Yes." the vampire admitted. "Can you?"

"No." Rachel answered truthfully. The words stabbing into the Scarlet's heart. "I would, but sadly, there's a limit to how much I can observe." Rachel continued to explain. "Currently there are two people who are under my observership, and the both of them requires my full attention at all times."

The blonde sighed. "Unfortunately, Mr. Hero is proving himself to be quite the rebellious dog, making the task all the more daunting. However I can't blame him for much." Rachel offered a sympathetic look. Remilia looked about on edge, and it pitied her. She could easily tell that her guest was one of charisma. The look of defeat she had on now did not suit her. "The problem lies with the gap between our realities. It is much more difficult to observe a being outside of our origin. In all honesty, I could probably only observe one of you. That being said, I'm at my limit observing my two current subjects."

"Then that means…"

"Yes. It is best if you observe them, since you all share the same origins."

"That's impossible." Remilia shook her head. "What good is an observer that's not bounded within this reality. Aren't I doomed to the same fate as my comrades?!" Remilia demanded.

Rachel grinned, and raised her tea cup to her lips. "My dear, whoever said that you weren't already being observed?"

Remilia gave a questioning look.

"I already mentioned that two people were under my observership, have I not?" Rachel then pointed towards her guest.

"Me? But when did you-?"

Rachel giggled. "You remembered our little duel? All I needed to do was acknowledge your own existence within this realm." She took a sip of tea before adding, "And what better way to observe someone's capabilities then through the heat of battle?"

Remilia looked down towards her own cup of tea. Gazing at the reflection on the liquid, she could see the relief in her eyes. She was safe. All that's left is to ensure that her friends would stay in this world. She looked up, and smiled at her host. This girl, whoever she was, had given her hope. "Thank you for the opportunity you have given me." She said graciously.

The vampire smiled in return. "Think nothing of it." She waved her hand dismissively. "Now observe, Scarlet Devil. Your friends need you."

 

Remilia nodded and closed her eyes. The pressure was certainly there. The existence of her allies rests solely on her shoulder. Still, that only served to motivate her further. She called upon fate once more, and peered into Reimu's future.

As expected, like many times before, the lines of fate weaved everywhere in her vision. Lines from all different directions, showing her flashes of what Reimu has faced, and what she will face in the futures. It all came at her like a massive typhoon, which nearly caused her to faint. She held on though.

" _Concentrate."_

All she needed to do was acknowledge the shrine maiden's existence.

" _These fates are now reality!"_

The pain subsided, and all that was left was clarity. The overly dreadful static feeling she felt all day dissipated into a pleasant numbness. She could see everything now. All that was needed was to find the girl so she could observe her one on one as Rachel has done to her. She saw one particular line in the chaotic web that stood out. It was slightly clearer visually, and had a slightly redder shade then the rest. She concluded that this timeline was the current one. She peered into line, and witnessed the details that it contained.

She observed it all. How Reimu came into the world from the boundary. Her little skirmish with the purple clad boy she saw in the hospital, and the battle she had with the red giant she saw at the Bascule. She grinned at how easily her opponents fell before. " _That's Reimu all right."_

The vision then changed to a battle between the shrine maiden and a person in a red jacket with spiky white hair. She saw his figure before, on wanted posters plastered throughout the city. He went by the name of Ragna the Bloodedge, if she recalled correctly. Apparently he was the world's most dangerous criminal, defeating entire armies single handedly. Still, he was no match for Reimu. All his blows were parried easily by the shrine maiden, and in a few short minutes, he was left standing in a pile of his own blood. But then something happened that caught the vampire's attention.

 _"_ _**Restriction 666 released….dimensional interference field deployed!"** _

_Ragna roared as he channeled the seithr from his grimoire. Dark mist like particles started to leak out of his right gauntlet, which then enshrouded the man's being. His entire outline_

_was soon laced with a black aura._

_"_ _**Blazblue activate!"** _

_The air shook as more and more seithr started to condense in the area. Nearby, the blue flames decorating the cathedral were snuffed out by the violent winds of seithr caused by the activation process. Reimu stood her ground as her hair flowed. A stern expression was on her face._

_"Let's go, you crazy red and white bitch!"_

The battle was then shifted into a more balanced contest of strength. The man was able to block all the shrine maiden's attacks and even managed to land a few hits of his own. The battle ended up in a stalemate, until the rebel landed a shot to a chandelier, which then fell on top of Reimu, knocking her unconscious. Remilia observed with a deadpan expression, not at all amused at what transpired.

The scene changed from the cathedral into the top of tower, with her standing in front of a green haired man in a dark suit. Moments later, Reimu suddenly fell on her knees and grabbed her head in pain, much to the green haired man's amusement. Remilia could only watch in horror as she saw one of her best friends crying out in agony. Tears rolled down her face and her voice rose several octaves as the seconds ticked by. Only a minute later did the shrine maiden come back to her senses.

" _You… it was you!"_ The shrine maiden roared.

Remilia then glanced at the man, who smiled shamelessly at the accusation.

" _BINGO~!"_ The man confirmed.

A battle broke out, but not the way Remilia was expecting. Reimu was losing. _Reimu_ was losing. Gensokyo's best and strongest was losing. She could barely believe what she was seeing. All of the shrine maiden's attacks either missed or hardly phased the green haired man at all. The battle ended with Reimu laying underneath the man's heels. He raised his foot and then-

"No! Reimu!" Remilia cried out from her seat. She finds herself looking at a perplexed Rachel.

"What's wrong?" The blonde asked with raised eyebrows.

"Reimu. She's about to…" Remilia tried to remember the exact location where Reimu fought the green haired man. "Clouds!" Remilia blurted out. "On top of a building. Uhh. Giant cocoon!"

"The...Altar?"

"Good enough!" Remilia immediately got out of her seat, but stopped when she heard Rachel ask "Wait, what exactly did you see?"

"A man with green hair. H-he's responsible for my home's…" Remilia quivered with her back turned towards the blonde.

Rachel was silent for a second before uttering a long drawn out sigh. "Him." She simply said. "I should have known. Who else would it be?"

"Reimu!" Remilia finally turned around. Her eyes were wide with fear, and her whole body was shaking. "She's...she's going to die!"

"Calm down now. You're going to need a clear mindset for this type of-"

"I'll kill him!" Remilia growled, her eyes turning blood red. "I'll rip his heart out and suck his blood dry for what he's done to Reimu and Gensokyo!" Her hands turned into fists, which was starting to radiate a crackling scarlet energy.

"You will not do anything in the current condition you're in." Rachel said firmly. "You can't. The man feeds on hatred to strengthen himself, which is probably the reason why your friend lost to him."

Remilia gritted her teeth before eventually forcing herself to calm down. "I have to go" She said to the blonde. "I need to save her."

Rachel could only stare at her guest for a moment. Her eyebrows were set in straight line, already seeing the futility in the other vampire's actions. "Fine then." She then decided to get up off her seat. "This will be the only way you learn."

Remilia raised an eyebrow in response.

"However, we're going to need to address the sun problem you have." Rachel pointed out. "Or were you really planning on fighting him one on one with one hand stuck to a parasol?"

"Oh. Yeah." Remilia blanched at the realization.

"Not to worry. I have someone here who knows how to physically manipulate the vampiric body to accept sunlight." Rachel said then smirked. "Mind you, this might cause some….slight discomfort."

Remilia broke into a cold sweat. "What do you mea-"

"Valkenhayn!" Rachel called out. A dark portal appeared next to the blonde vampire and from it, the same elderly butler Remilia saw before stepped out from the darkness.

"I am here, madam." The old man said with a bow.

"Would you be so kind as to give our guest here the proper...'massage' to ease her on her travels?"

Valkenhayn looked shocked for a second, glancing at the purple haired vampire with pity in his eyes before bowing low again. "If it is by your will, then so be it." The butler began to walk towards Remilia, who couldn't help but take a step back.

"My sincerest apologies, young madam. But if you could hold back the pain and relax, this will be over a lot more quickly." Valkenhayn said as he tightened the glove around his fingers. Remilia could only utter an audible gulp before she was yanked by the back of the neck.

"WAI- I'M NOT READY YET! HOLD ON-OUCH!"

As the purple haired draculina squirmed and cried, Rachel waltzed slowly and calmly back to her seat, drinking tea nonchalantly as she watched the whole ordeal with a neutral expression.

"HOLD ON, THAT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO GO THERE! YOU CAN'T BEND MY WINGS BACK LIKE THA-AAACK!"

The two familiars just stared in shock, looking at their master and the butler.

"Evil….just pure evil!" Gii cried.

When the "massage" finally ended, Remilia dropped to the floor unceremoniously on her knees. The pain, while brutally intense, left her for a moment. In fact, she hadn't felt this good in decades. It only lasted for a moment however, before she started to violently vomit out heavy amounts of blood.

"Do not worry." The butler said as he handed her a handkerchief. "This is only a natural reaction to your body's properties changing. You will feel some soreness for a short while."

Remilia could only nod in acknowledgment while she puked her guts and blood out of her body. When her body was finished adjusting, Remilia stood up and took the offered handkerchief.

"Will that be all?" Remilia said as she wiped her mouth.

"A quick word of warning." Rachel said from her seat. "Do what you must, but bear this in mind. The enemy you're about to face will be strong. Even I cannot hope to defeat him at this point."

"I'm ready." Remilia said with a nod.

"Then I wish you the best of luck." Rachel said. With a wave of a hand, she teleported the other vampire towards the NOL headquarters. Only Valkenhayn, Rachel, and her two familiars were present in the garden.

"Forgive me for asking, but was it wise to send her to do battle against Terumi all alone?" Valkenhayn asked.

"No, not in the slightest. But this is the only way she can learn the futility of interfering against fate." Rachel said solemnly.

"By the way, why were you being so nice towards her, Prince-WAHH!" Gii cried out when a giant black claw grabbed his mouth shut.

"Quiet! You like getting punished, don't you?!" Nago said in a hushed voice.

"Why was I being so 'nice' you say?" The two familiars froze at the question. "Simple really. I want her as an ally." Rachel said. "I believe she and her friends are the key to fixing our own incident. And besides…" Rachel held out her cup as Valkenhayn refilled it with tea. "Is it wrong to ask for a little companionship?"

 

 

…

..

.

**Sheol Gate**

Once Remilia felt herself standing on solid ground, she found herself somewhere dark and dusty. The only source of light she could see was from the glowing gate all the way in the background. Immediately, she could smell an intense aroma that almost made her mouth water. Blood.

She turned around at the source of the smell, and was greeted with the sight of Youmu lying in a pool of blood. Remilia's heart sank in despair. She walked over to the body and peered into the girl's fates. However, she was caught off guard as she was blinded by an intense white light when she started to decipher the gardener's destiny. It was almost like staring directly at a dwarf star up close.

"What in the…" Remilia muttered as she rubbed her eyes.


	10. Observer's Sorrow

**Outside the Scarlet Devil Mansion's Gate**

Patchouli looked ahead with worried, tired eyes, as she waited by the gate of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Two fairies armed with spears and shields were beside her, guarding the gate from any unwanted 'guests'. In the darkness, Patchouli could make out the outline of a lone figure walking out of the dark forest ahead. She breathed in a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness." Patchouli heaved as she walked forward.

From the forest, Meiling quickly went over to the new head of the Mansion.

"Lady Patchouli…"

"Meiling…" She raced forward and hugged the gate keeper. "Welcome home."

The chinese girl embraced and returned the hug. Once they separated, Patchouli asked, "How's the village?"

"Bad." Meiling shook her head. "No matter how many trips we make to give them supplies, it isn't enough. The people are starving and are dying of thirst. They are growing more and more dependent on us for supplies. Resources are growing scarce, making attempts at a market impossible."

"Shit."

It has been two months ever since Reimu and her group left Gensokyo, and the situation only got worse. The number of infected youkais have grown exponentially, making attacks all the more frequent. Recent measurements by herself and Doctor Yagokoro have concluded that seithr concentration in the air has risen by forty seven percent, tripling the amount of seithr when Remilia was here. The sky now sported eternal black clouds, and above the clouds, the sky was stained red. Seithr poisoning has gotten so bad that some of the gas was breaking through the magic barriers in the village. Getting to work on that is going to be such a pain.

"Hey, Patchy?"

"Hm?"

"It's been two months. Do you think they're okay?" Meiling asked.

Patchouli merely sighed. " I don't know. But for her sake and our's, she better be."

…

**Observer's Sorrow**

...

Flying through the hole Reimu fell through, Remilia made her way towards the top of the building, using the blue glowing shards as a beacon as they phased through the ceilings. As she got further up the tower, she could hear a faint rhythmic thumping against the top of the building. She increased her speed, flying through the cathedral and up the flight of stairs, the thumping sound getting louder and louder as she passed by each floor. The stairs finally led to the outside of the tower, with the steps running along the side of the cathedral. She could fully see the outside. The sun was setting, but it was there. To her great surprise and relief, the sun wasn't bothering her much. There was a slight tingling sensation, but all in all, she was unharmed. As she got higher and higher, she could make out the sound of someone laughing as the thumps became more and more rapid.

Finally she reached the top of the tower, and what waited for her was a harsh and brutal scene.

"HAHAHAHAHAH!" A man with spiky green hair cackled as he repeatedly stomped Reimu in the head. "Hey hey hey hey hey! What's the matter, little _Reimu_?! You were spouting all that hot shit a second ago. Where's your spunk now?!"

The shrine maiden was quiet, not unlike a corpse. Her bangs were over her eyes, and blood leaked from her forehead.

"Reimu!" Remilia shouted out.

"Ehh?" Hazama ceased his assault on the brunette's head upon hearing a new voice. "I wasn't expecting more gue-" He froze when he saw who interrupted his fun.

Those wings…

Those fangs…

Those eyes…

That unmistakable stench!

"No way…" Hazama seethed. "There are now _two fucking vampires?_!"

Remilia looked at Reimu, who was lying beneath the man's heel and barely breathing. She bared her fangs as angry tears started to form. "Get your filthy foot off of her!"

Hazama's scowl morphed into a twisted grin. "Oh! You mean little ole Reimu here?" He said as he grinded his heel against the brunette's head, the pressure adding more cracks to the already cracked floor left from the previous stomps. "I was just playing with her a little, that's all. Just a small sparring session going on between me and her. You were the one who was rude enough to interrupt us." He looked down at the shrine maiden. "Ain't that right, Reimu?"

"R-run." Reimu hoarsely whispered.

"See? Even she agrees with me!" Hazama pulled his head back while he uttered roars of laughter.

Remilia's arm started to shake violently. She forcefully calmed herself down until her mind was clear, wary of the information Rachel had given her before she departed. Getting angry would be counter-productive. What mattered now was getting Reimu away from the man without hurting her. While Hazama was laughing, she charged up a red spear in hand, and threw it with all her might at the man.

"Ha ha- huh?" Hazama noticed the spear within inches from his chest, but was too late to react as the spear of red energy drilled into his center, pinning him way back into the black Altar.

Remilia flew towards the Hakurei priestess. "Reimu" She cradled the brunette's face. "Reimu!" The shrine maiden had mortal wounds ranging from head to toe. What was worst was that her life force was nearly depleted. "Hold on. I'll get you out of here soo-" She turned her head towards the sound of metal chains clanking in the air. A black green glowing snake head was flying straight for her heart, but she reacted quickly enough to use her claws to slash it out of the air.

**OST: Endless Despair**

"That was a dirty shot, you little rat.' Hazama hissed as he waltzed towards the two girls. He extended one hand out, and materialised his black hat within his fingers. Once he placed the hat firmly on his head, the whole building started to quake as a glowing green ring of runes erupted around his body.

"But you won't be so lucky next time." He said with a sinister grin.

He fired off another green chain right towards the vampire, but she was caught off guard when it stopped it's motion right in front of the her face. Using it as an anchor, Terumi propelled himself at the Scarlet Devil, butterfly knives at the ready. In mere nanoseconds, he was close enough to swing his knives down towards the vampire. Remilia, acting on instincts, used her vampiric claws to parry the deadly knives. With her claws trailing scarlet light, the knives clashed against the vampire's talons. Looking to bring the fight somewhere farther away from the shrine maiden, Remilia twisted her body as she rammed her head against the man, pushing them away from the fallen brunette.

Hazama recovered in the air, and landed with one hand holding his hat steady. Both him and Remilia now stood only a few feet away from each other. Hazama initiated the battle when he went in to deliver a strike from one of his knives. Remilia defended herself by parrying the weapon with her claws. The two traded blows, dodging each other's attacks and clashing their blades against one another. However, as the two continued to battle, Remilia began to experience fatigue. The green ring sapped the vampire's life force from her body, making her moves sluggish and dull. The consequences proved to be dire as Remilia lunged forward to slash at her opponent, who in turn merely sidestepped the attack and struck his knee into the vampire's exposed stomach.

Remilia leaned forward as the air left her body. Hazama then quickly rammed an elbow directly onto the back of Remilia's neck and raised one foot high into her chin, with green energy trailing off his foot in an arching fashion, sending the vampire flying.

"Hungry Coils!" He extended an arm towards the vampire, and shot forth a green chain from his hand. Remilia cried out in agony as the metal chain bit into her chest. Hazama then yanked the vampire down from the air and into the ground, hard.

Remilia pulled herself on her knees as she coughed up blood.

"How did it make you feel as you watched me kick the living daylights out of your friend?" Hazama snickered. "Does it make you pissed? Angry? Hungry for revenge?!"

Remilia narrowed her eyes. Refusing to take the bait. Hazama noticed.

"So that bloodsucking harlot sent you, huh?" Hazama observed. "And by the looks of it, she told you all about my handy dandy tricks. Well ain't that just a bitch." He then started to chuckle darkly. "Still though, for her to send someone this weak to fight me. She _must_ be desperate!" He then started to laugh mockingly at the vampire.

"Still your lip, you buffoon." Remilia said as she got up onto her feet, wiping the blood from her mouth with her arm. "I will not be affected by witless taunts from a mindless ape."

"Ew." He gagged. "You even share the same bitchy haughty vocabulary." Hazama muttered as his eyes started to glow a bright yellow. "So you actually think you have the chutzpah to stand up to me?! Show me what you got you filthy vampire."

With a battle cry, Remilia summoned a red hexagram in front of her, and fired off a large red beam of deadly energy. In retaliation, Terumi conjured up his chains to form a shield, protecting himself from the blasts, but was caught off guard when a pair of bat shaped energy blasts moved around his shield, hitting him straight in the chest. He was sent staggering back on his feet. Seeing an opportunity to strike, Remilia dashed towards the man, too fast for the naked eye to see. She ran and slashed at Hazama, dashing past him as she did so. She landed two more hits, running through him left and right.

"Damn it!" He roared in anger. As the vampire was about to deliver the fourth blow, he managed to grab her by the throat as she was running towards him. He raised her body in a choking fashion and proceeded to land a roundhouse kick at the vampire's head, sending her tumbling into the air. He shot a green chain from one hand, and when the metal head connected with the vampire, he yanked the chain back, pulling Remilia back towards him. When she got close enough, he kicked his foot out into the vampire's stomach as she was being pulled towards him, knocking her straight to the ground. As he was about to land a fierce axe kick towards where she laid, when the kick was about to land, her body was separated into a swarm of black bats, causing his foot to hit nothing but concrete. The bats then conformed together behind Hazama's head, materialising back into the form of Remilia Scarlet. She lashed out at the man from behind in the air, but Terumi reacted quickly enough to block the vampire's attack with his arms. He then raised his leg up in a kick, only to have his attack blocked by Remilia. The two dashed away from each other; Hazama hopping back on the ground and Remilia flying backwards in the air.

Terumi then hurled a wave of green snake shaped astral projection like projectiles, while Remilia fired back with a barrage of red bat shaped energy bullets. The two forces collided with each other, resulting in a large scale explosion of smoke. Remilia coughed as she tried to clear the air, but as she did, Terumi shot his ouroboros through the smoke, unbeknownst to Remilia. He propelled himself behind the vampire.

"Yo! Shitty vampire!"

Remilia turned around, but was met with a swift kick in the jaw, sending her tumbling towards the ground. Before she could actually hit the floor however, Hazama used his chains to propel him in front of the vampire's trajectory. When she came in close enough, he kicked her again in the spine, sending her flying across the rooftop. He repeated the action, using his chain to send him in front of the limp draculina and managed to land an uppercut against her chin, launching her up high into the air. He propelled himself high into the air once more, catching up to the vampire as she was recovering from his blow. Terumi then grabbed her in the air and slammed his elbow down, sending his opponent straight down while firing off a chain towards the ground. He zipped across the air until he landed on the rooftop floor. Once he was down, he prepared his signature kick.

"Here I go…" When the vampire eventually came close to touching the ground, he then raised his leg in a super charged kick, which then blasted a green beam of darkness against the vampire. " **Serpent's Infernal Rapture!"**

…

When Remilia did finally hit the ground, she couldn't help but lay there for a moment as her body slowly regenerated her broken bones and bleeding organs.

"D-damn" She gasped in pain.

"What's wrong, vampire?" Terumi asked in his famous taunting voice. "Was that really all you got? Man, and here I was expecting a fight."

Remilia slowly tried to stand up, but staggered back down onto her knees. This battle was getting no where. Sure, her regenerative ability made it hard for her to truly die, but from the looks of things, all his injuries self heal too. What damned her though were the scars that afflicted her soul. Her life force was draining fast, and her soul has taken damage that even the highest order of healing magic couldn't fully heal.

"Get it?" Terumi asked. "You just can't beat me. So just do us all a favor and either die in a hole or do what the blonde bitch does and stay in the side lines."

Remilia stayed quiet for a second, soaking in the words the crazed man was saying. Her head hung low, which allowed her bangs to cover her eyes. "You may be right…"

**BGM: Dectet Nonet Octet (WAVE)**

"Ehhh?" Terumi tilted his head in confusion. "Repeat that?"

Remilia's body regenerated enough of its muscles for her to fully stand up. "I said that you may have a point." She said as she dusted off her dress. "Perhaps I do not have the strength to face you alone. Perhaps you are too powerful for me to defeat you all by myself." Her fists began to tighten.

"However! Though I may not wield strength, I have powerful allies!" She said as she raised her head. Her eyes burned with fierce convictions as her iris glowed an intense scarlet hue. "Allies who have bled and possibly gave up their chances of returning to their homes! Comrades who have given up so much to come over to this accursed realm! I will not let their sacrifices be in vain! By my word and will, I will strengthen their power with mine, so that they may defeat you. Whatever the cost, I will never let you succeed." She vowed

"Haha! What a fucking riot!" Terumi mocked. "How about you stop spouting bullshit, and actually do something to make me give a damn?!" He shot forth his deadly oroboros, aiming right for the vampire's heart.

Remilia materialised a card in one hand and closed her eyes, invoking the card's power.

" **Spell Card"** she chanted as the chain got closer and closer. " **Destiny sign: Miserable Fate!"** Remilia then fired off multiple red chains at the man. The chains curled around Terumi's Ouroboros, tangling and limiting the Nox Nyctore's uses.

"Shit." Terumi grumbled as he struggled to pull back his Nox.

Remilia pulled back her chains with one hand, while she invoked the name of her favored weapon.

" **Spear the Gungnir!"** A massive spear appeared in her hand, one that was larger than all the other spears she used throughout her time in this realm.

"You freaking bitch. Fine then, let me end this as quickly _and_ painfully as possible!' Terumi swore as his free hand began to transform into a dark astral projection of a twisted blade.

The two dashed towards each other and clashed their blades as they got close. The two pushed with all their might against their blades. Remilia was losing ground however, as her strength was being sapped by Terumi's ring. Terumi managed to push the spear away and as he did, he swung his bladed arm down onto Remilia's arm that held the chains, cleaving the limb off and freeing his Nox Nyctores.

Remilia howled in agony as she jumped back, cradling her bleeding stump with her remaining hand.

"Prepare to die, you annoying rodent." Terumi said as he walked towards the vampire.

"Big sis?" A voice came out of nowhere. Both Remilia and Terumi froze and looked up towards the skies, seeing one small figure with a swarm of black bats levitating above her heads floating in the clouds.

"It can't be…" Remilia gasped.

The bats...

That blonde hair...

Those red clothes...

That particular staff…

"D-don't tell me…!" Terumi stuttered in horror.

Not to mention those multi colored shards hanging off the wings.

"Holy shit! _T_ _hree vampires?!"_

"Flan!" Remilia cried out.

Above Flandre's head was a whole swarm of bat familiars protecting her from the sunlight. Flandre looked around for a second, noticing Reimu laying unconsciously and also seeing the wounds on her sister.

"Y-you!" Flandre hissed as her eyes glowed with rage.

"You hurt Reimu…" She said as she charged up her energy into her hands. "You hurt big sis!" Flandre then hurled large clusters of red energy at the green haired man. The blasts were too big to dodge without being damaged. Terumi groaned in pain as he failed to fully get out of the huge blasts that were caused by the little vampire.

Flandre grabbed ahold of her laevateinn with both hands, turning it into a huge flaming sword. She then flew down at mach speed, and swung her sword towards Terumi, slashing him right through his midsection.

Terumi cried out in sheer pain as his body was knocked back several feet against the roof top.

"Flan, grab Reimu and run!" Remilia demanded as she prepared herself for flight.

"Huh? But-"

"Now!" Remilia demanded. Flandre then flew towards the shrine maiden and scooped her up. Once Reimu was secured, both vampires flew off the rooftop and into the distance.

Terumi quickly got up and ran at the two vampires, but failed to catch them in time as they flew into the sunset.

"Damn you…. _SHITTY VAMPIRES!"_

…

The two vampires flew through the air in silence, with Flandre leading and carrying an unconscious Reimu in her arms. Remilia was lagging behind, barely catching up. Her wounds were taking their time healing due to her life force being so exhausted. Flandre looked behind her, worried about her older sister.

"Sister?" she called out.

Remilia looked up at her younger sister. She could only answer with a hollowed, "Yes?"

Flandre winced at her sister's weak tone. "Are you alright?"

Remilia merely shook her head. "I'm fine, Flandre." She assured her younger sister. "It's her I'm worried about." Remilia motioned towards the girl in Flandre's arms.

Flandre examined the brunette in her arms. "She's weak, sis. I don't know how long she'll make it…"

The elder Scarlet returned her gaze down towards the earth.

They were flying for a while now. They just passed the Bascule section of the town, and were approaching the edge of the city, where several buildings were still under construction. Remilia mused on the irony. This was where Reimu was sent from the Boundary, dead set on finding the source of all their misfortunes. Yet here they were, fleeing from Altar and finding themselves back here. Remilia noticed a familiar blonde head standing on top of one building.

"Flan."

"Hmm?" Flandre looked back at her elder sister.

"Land on that building over there." She pointed downwards.

…

Rachel turned her head towards the sky as she heard someone touching down. Remilia landed on the rooftop just a foot away from the Alucard princess, trailing behind her was a younger vampire in red clothing, holding a wounded and knocked out shrine maiden. Rachel nodded at the two, silently welcoming them back. Even though her face didn't show it, Rachel was surprised that the vampire was able to complete her mission. But apparently it was at a heavy cost, and from the looks of it, brought back little to show for it. Remilia's dress lost it's pristine elegance, sporting dozens of tears and splotches of blood. Her body had matching scars and wounds that have not fully healed yet, and most noticeably, her left arm was missing. Rachel watched as the other blonde vampire knelt down, and gently placed the shrine maiden down onto the floor.

Valkenhayn stepped a little closer. "Madam Rachel, should we help?"

Rachel merely shook her head. "There's little we can do." She said as she watched Remilia kneel down right next to Reimu's head. "Let them handle things…"

Remilia gently picked up the brunette's head, and cradled the girl's face. "Reimu…" Remilia said as tears started to fall "I'm so sorry." One tear managed to fall of her face, landing on the brunette's forehead. Reimu's eyelids began to flicker open.

"R-Remilia?" Reimu weakly whispered.

Surprised, Remilia couldn't help but thank the gods. "Oh, Reimu…"

The brunette's dull irises' moved left and right. This concerned the small vampire.

"Hey. Where are you?" Reimu asked.

Both Scarlets looked at each other in panic. Slowly, Reimu's red eyes started to lose it's color. Her breathing started to become more and more shallow, and her life force was dwindling as the seconds ticked. She was dying.

"I can't see anything." Reimu said blankly.

Remilia grabbed hold of one of the shrine maiden's hands, and nuzzled it against her cheek, noticing the lack of strength.

"I'm here." Remilia said with a shaky voice.

"Everyone. How are they doing?"

Remilia shook her head.

"Youmu. Is she…?"

"Yeah, she's fine." Remilia lied.

Reimu was silent for a minute. "You suck at lying."

"Sorry…" Remilia whispered.

"Ah. It's fine." Reimu said in a hollow tone. "It's not really fine though…" Her voice started to tremble. "I kind of fucked up, didn't I?"

Remilia shook her head, even though she knew the girl wouldn't see it. "No, Reimu. You tried your hardest."

"It wasn't enough. I almost-" Reimu's eyes started to form tears as well. "Damn it. Everyone counted on me. Gensokyo was-"

"Shhhh...that's enough." Remilia consoled her friend. It seems to have worked, as the brunette started to blink away the tears.

"Ahh crap. I'm getting tired."

Remilia's heart started to sink at the statement. Flandre started to cry as she bent down next to the shrine maiden, sobbing into her shoulder. "It's alright. When you wake up, you'll fix this like you always do."

"Wake up, you say?" Reimu laughed. "That would be nice…" Her eyelids started to get heavy. Her chest moved up and down at a slower rate.

"But for now…" Remilia said with free flowing tears in her eyes. "Just rest. We're going to be staying in this world for a while."

"Rest huh?" Reimu said with a dejected voice. "Yeah. I think I would like that." Her breath rate slowed immensely while her eyelids slid to a close.

"Rumia…." Reimu whispered her last words before her breathing finally stopped. The last vestiges of her soul and life force ebbed away. Her chest froze, and just like that, she was gone. Flandre's sobs intensified. She couldn't help herself from embracing the body that has once been Reimu. Silently, Remilia slowly got to her feet, her back facing of the Alucard Princess.

"I get it now." Remilia told Rachel.

"Hm?" Rachel acknowledged with a knowing hum.

"No matter what I would've done on my own…" Remilia looked down towards her deceased friend. "There was no way I could've prevented this." She turned around to face the blonde, her eyes empty as she let out a hollow chuckle.

'It's kind of funny, really. Through out the many centuries I have roamed the realm of existence, I have battled against destiny many times. And many times, victory was mine. But…" She looked up at the setting sun, and for the first time in her entire life she basked in it's warm radiance without fear.

"Right now, that's one battle I can't fight. It will be up to the others to change fate."

She looked back down to the shrine maiden. "It'll fall on Reimu's shoulders." She shook her head. "And Marisa's. And Alice's. And Youmu's…"

Her gaze then traveled to her little sister, who was still crying softly. "Even Flan's…." Remilia sighed and looked back at Rachel with a neutral expression. "It will be up to everyone else to change the fate of our world. I however, seem to have no control over the battle, myself. All I can do now is guide my allies in the right direction."

"And that's the Observer's Sorrow." Rachel said as she offered a sympathetic smile.

Remilia smiled back. Both vampires began to turn their attention back to the setting sun.

"This current shift is about to end, isn't it?" Remilia asked.

"This would be around the time the world resets, yes." Rachel replied. "The path ahead will only get harder and harder. Are you prepared?"

"We'll see."

When the sun finally settled down, an intense white light then enshrouded the entire world.

_**Remilia stories** _

_**One of the many possibilities...of the Continuum Shift** _

…

_**..** _

_**.** _

Remilia: _**Offer me assistance, Professor Kokonoe!**_

In front of you, the giant red curtains starts to divide and move to the side, revealing a dark room. From the darkness, a sudden ray of light shoots down in the middle of the room. In the middle of the light was a woman with pink hair, cat ears, wearing a scientist's coat with red capri pants.

Kokonoe: "Greetings lost children! I am Professor Kokonoe, genius scientist and ruler of the Sector Seven laboratory."

She coughed into her sleeves, quickly recomposing herself.

Kokonoe: "Ok, we aren't really in the lab at the moment. This place is technically a room somewhere hidden deep within the boundary. Basically, this place is a mysterious room, where all sorts of stuff can happen. You can sort of think of this place as...a paradise to those poor sad souls that couldn't make it to their desired ending. A sort of Avalon, if you will.."

An annoyed scowl formed on her face.

Kokonoe: "If you're one of those readers who are like, 'Oh I don't care about this segment', or 'I just want to get to the next character arc'. Sorry kiddo's, you're probably going to have to wait for another month before that happens."

She sighed.

Kokonoe: "Alright, let's get this over with. Lost child of the day, you may enter…"

The room starts to brighten up, revealing the same messy papers scattered on the floor along with a weird glowing liquid tank in the background. Really now, you'd think the scientist would come around to cleaning this place. The sound of a mechanical door opening echoes throughout the room, and from the shadows, stepped forth a young looking vampire girl. She looked around the room in confusion.

Remilia: "Where is this? Last thing I saw was a huge flash of light…"

The scientist cleared her throat.

Kokonoe: "Yo, over here."

Remilia finally took notice of the other women standing in the room.

Remilia: "Sorry, I was miles away."

Kokonoe shook her head as she got out a notebook.

Kokonoe: "Alright so you're today's guest, huh? That must mean that you are…..Remilia Scarlet? You're _the_ Remilia Scarlet?!"

Remilia: "Indeed I...am?"

Barely a second later, the scientist immediately prostrated herself right in front of the vampire.

Remilia: "Eh? What?"

Kokonoe: "Finally you came! I was so worried that you would never come!"

She looked up and flashed her notebook for the vampire to see. On a sheet of paper was a list of familiar names.

Kokonoe: "Do you know how aggravating it is to do this type of segment when there is only one possibility to work with?!"

Remilia: "I...I don't quite understand."

The scientist got up from the ground and dusted off her lab coat.

Kokonoe: "Of course you don't. Why would you?"

She cleared her throat.

Kokonoe: "As I've stated before, this place is a haven for poor misguided souls who could not attain their true ending."

Remilia: "So that means...I got the 'bad ending?'"

Kokonoe: "Correct."

Remilia: "But...this was the first cycle…"

Kokonoe grinned.

Kokonoe: "Welcome to the continuum shift, princess. Anyways, currently you are the only one who is under someone's observership, granting you more possibilities. In this case, a new ending is available for you. The problem, however, is that I have to counsel _all_ your friends, and the sad truth is that, without a proper observer, they aren't going to last long enough for them to even get a new possibility."

The vampire cringed at the information.

Kokonoe: "So, like, we're going to keep this session brief, because there's only one thing you can do. You know what needs to be done, yeah?"

Remilia: "I do."

Kokonoe: "You do know that once you observe them, you are basically cementing their existence within this universe, right?"

Remilia: "..."

Kokonoe: "Meaning that, they might never be able to go back to their world? It's probably already too late for you, but would you submit that fate to everyone else?"

Remilia: "What other choice is there?"

Kokonoe merely shrugged. The sounds of mechanical locks unlocking clanged in the background.

Kokonoe: "Looks like you're pretty dead set on your goals. Good luck."

The vampire merely nodded and headed straight for the door. While she was walking away, Kokonoe could hear the vampire muttering something.

 

"I'm so sorry, everyone. Farewell, Gensokyo."

The red curtains started to close, and the whole room fell into darkness.

…

..

.

_**Outskirts of Kagutsuchi** _

Reimu finally regained awareness around her surroundings. She could've sworn she was doing something important a minute ago, but she merely found herself staring at a glass window of a run down building. In the reflection was herself with a goofy purple top hat on her head.

"Lame" she judged herself before taking off the top hat. A weird sense of nostalgia poured into her mind for a second. She suddenly began to hear a faint whisper in the back of her head.

_Remember my name…_

Reimu grabbed her head in pain. She looked in the mirror once more only to see a black outline with green veins looking at her with one glowing green eye. An aggravatingly happy grin plastered on it's face.

_Yuuki…_

"Terumi." Reimu hissed. Her mouth moved on it's own as she recited the unfamiliar name. Though it was a stranger's name, it elicited an emotion of pure malice inside her heart. She punched the mirror, shattering it into dozens of sharp pieces. Whoever this Terumi person was, her soul knew he was responsible for the horror back in her home. She's not completely sure why, but she will find this bastard soon, and she will make him pay.

She heard the sound of a small boy groaning in pain. Reimu sighed and looked back at the young bounty hunter, who was currently laying in a pile of bloody rubble.

"Ah quit your crying, kid." Reimu said. "Compared to what I usually dish out, that was merely a love tap. You'll live."

She pondered her words for a second. "Maybe..."

In the corner of her vision, she spotted something flying in the air. She looked up to see a familiar figure landing closer. The figure was a small girl in a decorated pink dress. Her vampiric wings spreading freely from her back.

"Remilia?" Reimu squinted her eyes.

The vampire landed gracefully a few feet away from Reimu.

"Hello Reimu." Remilia said with a friendly smile.

"Er...yo" Reimu waved awkwardly. "So, looks like you got out of the boundary in one piece. By the way are you, like, okay...with the...uhh" Reimu pointed towards the sun

"I'm fine. I learned a couple of tricks in this realm." Remilia said before looking at the downed bounty hunter. "Making friends already?"

"Pfft, kid was asking for it." Reimu waved him off, changing the subject. "So? How are the others? Do you know where they are?"

"You let me worry about them. But first let me ask you a question." Remilia said with a smirk growing.

"Uh, sure."

"If I were to tell you that there is a method to save Gensokyo, what would you say?"

Reimu raised her eyebrow at her vampire friend. Was this a trick question. "Remilia, what is this? You know what I would think. "That would be awesome" is what I would say." She sighed. "Buuut, theres a catch, isn't there?"

Remilia offered an apologetic smile. "Indeed. What if this path would help you save Gensokyo, but in the end, you couldn't return back home?"

Reimu frowned. This was one morbid puzzle she was playing. "And there isn't another option?"

Remilia shook her head. "The other option would be to ignore this method completely. To do what you have always done, and solve this incident on your own. However, if you were to do that, you lose the previous option forever. This option will bear little to no fruit. It even hinges on the definition of pointless. But would you challenge Fate ? Would you risk a better method for the prospect of getting home? Or would you save Gensokyo, but at the cost of ever returning?"

Reimu pondered the options that the vampire had laid out for her. Probably pondered a little too deeply for her tastes, but she picked one nonetheless.

"I guess...I would choose the option that would most likely save Gensokyo." Reimu said in a neutral tone. "Sure, it would suck to never go home. Really it would, but…." Reimu frowned and closed her eyes. "It would suck even more if I failed on my own. I would've let down everyone back home. People who counted on me would have died, all for the selfish desire like going back."

When Reimu opened her eyes and looked at Remilia, she saw that the vampire had the biggest grin plastered on her face.

BGM: **Koumajou Densetsu II:Stranger's Requiem- Afraid**

"Excellent" Remilia said. " **Gungnir!"** A large red glowing spear suddenly materialised in the vampire's right hand.

Reimu took a couple of steps back. "Wha-what are you doing?"

"I shall test your resolve with a single match." Remilia said as she gripped the spear of light. "Come at me with the same confidence you had before."

An annoyed scowl formed on the shrine maiden's face.

"Remi. Don't you think there are more productive uses of our time rather than fighting?" Nevertheless, Reimu raised her gohei wand and prepared some charms underneath her sleeves.

"Trust me, Reimu. This will help you out more than you know. Now, come, little shrine maiden." Remilia beckoned the red and white maiden in an almost taunting way.

Reimu sighed. "Alright then. Just don't come crying to me once we're done here!" Reimu said as she dashed forward towards the small vampire.

The shrine maiden swung her gohei wand downwards towards Remilia, but the vampire sidestepped the blow and retaliated by swinging her spear at Reimu. Reimu quickly blocked the strike with her wand, but the vampire then twirled her body, twirling the spear in her hand and attacking with a low horizontal motion. Reimu blocked the swing with her wand in one hand, while thrusting her palm in her other hand against the vampire's stomach, sending the Scarlet Devil flying back.

Remilia grinned as she stopped her momentum by planting her feet against the floor, skidding across it's surface. She fired off 3 bat shaped projectiles while dashing forward, moving so fast that after images were the only indications that she was there.

Reimu got out four needles and flung them towards her opponent. Three of them hit their mark as they penetrated through the red glowing projectiles, with them dissipating immediately. The fourth one, which was aimed right at the vampire's forehead as she was dashing, was deflected by the Gungnir. She then slid down on the ground, bringing the tip of the spear aiming at the shrine maiden's foot. The brunette was taken off guard by the low blow. She tripped off the ground by the spear, which allowed the vampire to strike with two quick slashes with the spear followed by a powerful overhead swing.

The attack sent the brunette tumbling on the ground, giving the vampire enough time to charge forward and lunge her spear towards the shrine maiden. Reimu recovered off the ground quickly enough to jump out of the way of the spear's lunge and kicked the vampire in the face. She got in closer and punched the vampire in the chest, than in the stomach in quick succession and slashed her shoulder with her wand, followed with a sweeping kick, tripping the vampire and ending it with a roundhouse kick to the skull, sending her a bit higher the air.

Reimu started charging up energy in her left hand, and released it in a blinding beam of blue energy, shooting at the vampire, and sending her higher into the blue sky.

Just below the clouds, Remilia shrugged off the beam and pulled out a spell card. Her grin never left her face as she uttered the magic chant.

" **Midnight sign: Dracula's Cradle!"**

Remilia then dove towards the shrine maiden from the sky, a red magical aura trailing her body as she descended from the clouds.

Reimu sighed as she formed a fist in her left hand, blue lightning crackling off her arm as she did so. She took off from the ground and headed towards the vampire at full speed, her left fist pulled back as her body emanated a bright blue light.

The two collided in the air, creating a massive explosion that shook the entire outskirt of the city.

…

The battle did not last that long. At most it only took about ten minutes before the fight ended. Reimu stood not too far away from the crater Remilia laid upon. The brunette's chest moved up and down, indicating the slight over exhaustion in battle. But other than that, her face still had it's same old tired and annoyed expression.

Remilia on the other hand, laid in the crater with an almost serene expression on her face. Her lips were formed in the most calm and satisfying smile.

"Damn it, Remilia what the hell?" Reimu said as she rubbed some bruises on her arm. "You were really going off on me earlier."

Remilia giggled as she stood up and dusted the grime off her dress. "I told you I was testing you. However, it seems as though I can fully trust you now."

Reimu almost felt hurt by her friend's words.

"You mean to tell me you haven't trusted me all this time, until now?" Reimu asked with a frown.

"No no, nothing like that. I merely meant that my faith in you has now been solidified."

Reimu closed her eyes and turned away, brushing the back of her head with her spare hand.

"Yeah, well I-huh?" She was interrupted when she felt cold fingers gently caressing her cheeks. "Huh, wha-" The brunette's cheeks started to glow a deep shade of red. "What do you think you're doing?!" Reimu sputtered embarrassingly at the small vampire, who was currently cradling the shrine maiden's face in her hands, with her face inches close to her own.

"Reimu." Remilia whispered to the flushed shrine maiden.

Reimu stayed quiet as she looked into the vampire's eyes.

"Do not worry. I have so much faith in you. I know that you can defeat this incident."

"Hmph, I didn't really care if you believed in me or not…" Reimu said as she looked away.

Remilia snickered at the blatant lie. "All you need is a little help and guidance on the way. And I will be there to guide you."

Remilia leaned in closer before whispering, "A word of caution, Reimu."

"What is it?"

"Do not ever lose your way." Remilia said simply. "Never change who you are. Be wary of the madness that has been haunting you the past two weeks. Always be yourself, okay?"

Reimu raised an eyebrow at the suggestion. "I have absolutely no idea what you are saying, but…" Her face softened into a genuine smile. "Thank you, Remilia."

The vampire then pulled away from the girl. "Now, you best be on your way then. I have no doubt in my mind that you can find where you need to go. I will take care of the others."

"Huh?" Reimu tilted her head. "I thought you said that there was another way besides me taking this on my own."

"Oh that. Nevermind that." Remilia waved her off. "That was more of a philosophical question more than anything."

"You really are a weird one, you know that?" Reimu shrugged. "Whatever, make sure everyone is safe, okay?" She turned around and flew in the air, flying towards the Bascule section of the city.

Remilia stood where she was, watching the shrine maiden take off and wishing her luck. She suddenly felt a gust of wind blow against her back, and with it, a presence behind her.

"Have you secured Flandre?" Remilia asked the presence.

"Yes." Rachel said from her portal before standing right next to Remilia. "Valkenhayn found her somewhere within the city, and she is now back in the castle. No one was harmed."

Remilia smiled. "That's good." Rachel caught sight of the red and white brunette disappearing off into the distance.

"Well, that's one down. How do you feel?" Rachel asked the other vampire.

"Never felt any better" Remilia answered.

"Who's the next one?"

"I have a few options…" Remilia simply said.

…

_**Remilia Stories: Scarlet Observer** _

_**End** _

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Time is distorted between the two realms. While one shift would take only one day, that would equal about two months in Gensokyo's time.


	11. Reimu: ARCADE SCENARIO

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ACT I

**(BGM: Blazblue: Blue beating)**

…

**Reimu Hakurei (ARCADE SCENARIO)**

Drive: Yin Yang Orb

Age: 17

Height: 5'5 ft

Weight: 47 kg

Blood type: B

Affiliation: Hakurei Shrine

Position: Shrine Maiden

Relatives: Miko Hakurei (Mother), Genji (Caretaker, trainer)

Hobbies: Hanging around the shrine, Danmaku Duels.

Values: Gensokyo

Likes: Donations

Dislikes: Cheapskates

Natural Enemy: Yūki Terumi

Theme: HM Reimu's Theme: Spring Lane ~ Colorful Path

Unlimited Theme: 博麗 霊夢／少女綺想曲 〜Dream Battle (Maiden's capriccio by CarrotWine)

Power: ****

Defense: ****

Speed: ****

_The current shrine maiden of the Hakurei lineage. She is by no means an ordinary maiden, as she possesses great skills in fighting; proficient in hand to hand combat and also formidable in spells and long range. An exceptional fighter in all categories, she is now tasked with bringing balance to Gensokyo. Although she spent a long time not needing it, her prowess in lethal combat has not waned in the slightest during the era of the spell card system, as she is determined to hunt down the entity known as "Yuki Terumi"..._

**Risk Rating: S**

**Unknown-Outskirts**

_The cycle repeats…_

**BGM: Accept Bloody Fate (IOSYS)**

"Lame" Reimu judged herself before tossing the top hat away into the air. She felt as though she has done this before...She heard the sound of a small boy groaning in pain. Reimu sighed and looked back at the young bounty hunter, who was currently laying in a pile of bloody rubble.

"Ah quit your crying, kid." Reimu said. "Compared to what I usually dish out, that was merely a love tap. You'll live…"

She pondered her words for a second. "Maybe…"

Still though, what was troubling her the most at the moment was the weird feeling of someone whispering to her. Like her soul was yearning for….something. Someone, by the name of Terumi. The name was unfamiliar to her, yet it made a personal mark in her mind. It was as if she was being beckoned, and if she heeded her feelings, she would find what she was looking for. Already, she was pretty damn sure this Terumi person was responsible for all her troubles.

In the corner of her vision, she spotted something flying in the air. She looked up to see a familiar figure landing closer. The figure was a small girl in a decorated pink dress. Her vampiric wings spreading freely from her back.

"Remilia?" Reimu squinted her eyes.

The vampire landed gracefully a few feet away from Reimu.

"Hello Reimu." Remilia said with a friendly smile.

"Er...yo" Reimu waved awkwardly. "So, looks like you got out of the boundary in one piece. By the way are you, like, okay...with the...uhh" Reimu pointed towards the sun

"I'm fine. I learned a couple of tricks in this realm." Remilia said before looking at the downed bounty hunter. "Making friends already?"

"Pfft, kid was asking for it." Reimu waved him off, changing the subject. "So? How are the others? Do you know where they are?"

"You let me worry about them. But first let me ask you a question." Remilia said with a smirk growing.

"Uh, sure…"

"If I were to tell you that there is a method to save Gensokyo, what would you say?"

Reimu raised her eyebrow at her vampire friend. Was this a trick question. "Remilia, what is this? You know what I would think. That would be awesome...is what I would say." She sighed. "Buuut, theres a catch, isn't there?"

Remilia offered an apologetic smile. "Indeed. What if this path would help you save Gensokyo, but in the end, you couldn't return back home?"

Reimu frowned. This was one morbid puzzle she was playing. "And there isn't another option?"

Remilia shook her head. "The other option would be to ignore this method completely. To do what you have always done, and solve this incident on your own. However, if you were to do that, you lose the previous option forever. This option will bear little to no fruit. It even hinges on the definition of pointless. But would you challenge Fate ? Would you risk a better method for the prospect of getting home? Or would you save Gensokyo, but at the cost of ever returning?"

Reimu pondered the options that the vampire had laid out for her. Probably pondered a little too deeply for her tastes, but she picked one nonetheless.

"I guess...I would choose the option that would most likely save Gensokyo." Reimu said in a neutral tone. "Sure, it would suck to never go home. Really it would, but…." Reimu frowned and closed her eyes. "It would suck even more if I failed on my own. I would've let down everyone back home. People who counted on me would have died, all for the selfish desire like going back."

When Reimu opened her eyes and looked at Remilia, she saw that the vampire had the biggest grin plastered on her face.

"Excellent" Remilia said. " **Gungnir!"** A large red glowing spear suddenly materialized in the vampire's right hand.

Reimu took a couple of steps back. "Wha-what are you doing?"

"I shall test your resolve with a single match." Remilia said as she gripped the spear of light. "Come at me with the same confidence you had before."

An annoyed scowl formed on the shrine maiden's face.

"Remi...don't you think there are more productive uses of our time rather than fighting?" Nevertheless, Reimu raised her gohei wand and prepared some charms underneath her sleeves.

"Trust me, Reimu. This will help you out more than you know. Now, come, little shrine maiden." Remilia beckoned the red and white maiden in an almost taunting way.

Reimu sighed. "Alright then. Just don't come crying to me once we're done here!"

…

"Damn it Remilia, what the hell?!" Reimu hissed as the battle closed to an end.

"Hm hm…" Remilia giggled. "Looks like you are ready."

"Ready?" Reimu huffed. "What, did you have no faith in me earlier?"

"No no, nothing like that." Remilia waved her off. "Well now, you should probably get going. You have a dimension to save after all."

"Wait…" Reimu raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you say there was another way besides me doing this on my own?"

"That was just a little riddle I wanted to share, is all"

"You are just the weirdest, aren't you?" Reimu shrugged. "Oh well, search for the others while I'm gone, will you?" She said before turning away.

"Oh, just one more thing I need to mention."

"Yeah?" Reimu turned around.

"By now you are probably feeling an influx of negative emotions, particularly at a specific person." Remilia hypothesized with eerie accuracy. "Am I right?"

Reimu was starting to become more and more suspicious of the vampire. "Just how much do you know?"

"Reimu please, I don't have much time." Remilia pleaded. "Just be careful of those feelings. They are more dangerous than you think."

"Can you just be straight with me this one time?" Reimu was quickly losing her patience.

"Just be yourself, and you should be ok." Remilia simply said.

Reimu sighed before taking flight deeper into the city

* * *

**NEXT STAGE**

**SYMBOLIC DOMINATION**

**RAGNA THE BLOODEDGE**

* * *

**BGM: Here We Go (Driving Kitchen)**

**Symbolic Domination -Cathedral**

_Hypocrisy is a homage that vice pays to virtue…_

_**The 13th Hierarchical City -KAGUTSUCHI-AREA No-1** _

"Huh, so this is where the distortion is coming from…" Reimu mused as she marveled at the whole cathedral. "Still though, finding this place seemed all too easy. It's as if I'm being led here by some invisible force…"

She continued on, walking forward towards the set of stairs, until she saw someone standing close by a balcony. It was a spiky haired man with white hair, who also seemed to be heading towards the stairs as well. He had on a very distinct red jacket decorated with belts, as well as a pair of hakama pants. When he noticed her presence, he turned around to face the shrine maiden. For a moment, both Reimu and the man could only stare at each other.

"Who are you?" The man finally asked.

"Someone…" She said as she eyed the man distrustingly. Already, she could feel a dark power emanating from the man. In fact, it was almost the same feeling she had when she was back in Gensokyo. All of the alarms were going off in her head, and she would've accused the man right then and there. But for some reason, something was telling her this man was nothing more than a nuisance.

"But wait…" She recalled the various wanted posters that littered the city streets. Most of them are labeled dangerous, but looked like nothing more than everyday crooks. But there was one criminal that stood out among the rest of the posters. His name was…

"Ragna the Bloodedge." Reimu said. "SS Class criminal wanted by the Novus Orbis Librarium government for the destruction of numerous NOL military branches and hundreds of government institutions. Most noticeably distinguished by a red jacket, a large sword, and some stupid looking spiky white hair." She said as she pointed towards the characteristics that matched on the man.

"Tch…" There was no use hiding it now. Although, he never did bother to hide his appearance that much, but for someone to be calling him out is an indication that the person was after him. Those people regretted the action in the end, and he relied on that reputation to deter people away from him.

"So what, are you some kind of bounty hunter, or something?" Ragna asked as his right hand started lingering towards the hilt of his sword behind him.

"Not really" Reimu shrugged. "Just a shrine maiden on a mission. But…" there was a sparkle in her eyes before she conjured up a few ofuda charms in her hands. "It wouldn't hurt to earn some money while I'm here…" Reimu said as a grin started to grow.

"You sure about that?" Ragna asked in a dangerous tone.

"Yeah. I'm not sure whats the conversion rate from platinum dollars to yen is, but ninety billion is a big number, so it should be worth while."

"The number is big for a reason, you know. And it would be smart of you to get lost before you find out why." Ragna threatened.

"Ahhh how scary" Reimu said sarcastically. "Seriously though, I sweep up dust bunnies more threatening than you."

Ragna was getting more and more annoyed as the verbal trades continued. "I don't have time for this crap! Last chance to beat it before I beat you!" He shouted as he got out his sword.

"I also have somewhere to be right now. But don't worry, I can guarantee this match isn't going to take long at all."

"I can guarantee you're going to be sorry after this, you shrine bitch." Ragna said as he straightened his collar.

"How classy. Bring it, tough guy." Reimu taunted, gripping her charms in one hand while she held her wand in another.

…

"ARGH!" Ragna grunted in pain as he was knocked down on his knees. "You bitch!"

Reimu floated not too far away with a bored expression and crossed arms. "What was this? Weren't you supposed to be the world's strongest man, or something?" She said with unabashed disappointment lacing her voice.

"Don't count me out yet." He said as he shakingly got up on his feet, raising his blade towards the shrine maiden. "I can still fight!" He roared a battle cry as he charged towards the brunette, who merely shook her head and extended her hand out in front of her, pushing the charging man back with a blast of invisible energy.

"Calm down. Be thankful I'm nice enough to keep you alive. Maybe I'll even get a bonus for it…hm?"

A loud boom then echoed throughout the whole building. It sounded as if it was coming from the top of the Cathedral.

"What was that?" Reimu asked, mostly to herself.

"Oh shit! Dammit I need to go now!" Ragna exclaimed as he got up from the floor, making a run towards the staircase. However, Reimu quickly uttered something under her breath, and soon, a magic glowing ring surrounded Ragna, before constricting itself around him, stopping him in place. "Argh! You-"

"Stop right there, criminal scum." Reimu said in a bored voice. "I can't have you getting in my way."

"What?!" Ragna cried out, realising that the shrine maiden seemed to have other goals besides the bounty on his head. "You...do you have any idea what's happening?"

"Not a clue." Reimu quickly admitted. "All I know is that I have a feeling something bad is happening at the top of this tower, and that I need to hurry and fix this mess." She then gave the spiky haired man a cocky smile. "And hey, if you do happen to be a good guy, then wouldn't it be great if I solved this for you?" Reimu then retreated from the scene, leaving Ragna all alone in a magic bind.

"Wait!"

…

* * *

**Next Stage**

**CLOSED WORLD**

**HAKU=MEN**

* * *

**BGM: SUSANOOH**

**Closed world -The GATE-**

_Truth lies at the bottom of the well…_

_**The 13th Hierarchical city -KAGUTSUCHI- AREA No-0** _

"This place is pretty weird…" Reimu said out loud as she traversed through the fog. The place was dark, dank, and silent. Bits of concrete floated around in the air over in the background. "It's like time itself has completely stopped in here…" What was even weirder was that at that very moment, she was feeling an intense presence radiating in this place. The air held such a heavy feeling of power that it was almost hard to breath normally. "What's with this crazy amount of power I'm feeling?"

Suddenly, there was a voice out of nowhere that pierced the silence.

"So, it seems that Fate has chosen you to stand before me…"

"Who's there?!" Reimu looked around, preparing to chuck a handful of ofuda charms at anything that would even give her a nasty look.

From the shadowy mist, a figure started to appear within her vision. A white knight stood near her with his back facing her and his arms folded across his chest. Behind his back was a long sword reaching from his head all the way to his legs. Even though he was facing the other direction, she could still feel the man focusing on her body. Reimu finally realized the multiple red eyes on his shoulders and legs, all of which were glued to her.

This person was dangerous, Reimu thought. She could easily feel the intense power radiating from the armored figure. It felt like a current of lightning was washing through her entire body just by being near this man. He finally turned around, showing his face to the shrine maiden. Or more accurately, a lack of one. His entire face was hidden behind a blank white mask. The combination of both the faceless appearance mixed with an intense aura of sheer force shook Reimu to the core. Try as she might to deny it, she felt fear.

"Wh-who are you?" She then realised something out of place. She felt no presence within the armor, yet at the same time, she felt something much...much more, as though she was staring at the will of the world itself.

"No. _What_ are you?"

"Hmm…" The multiple eyes on the person's armor focused intently on the girl. It was as if they were judging the worth of her existence.

"I see… So you're one of the phenomenons..." The man unfolded his arms. "You do not belong in this world. Turn back."

"What?" Reimu was getting a little pissed now. "Look pal, I don't know what your problem with me is, but I have something that I need to take care of."

"I am familiar with your situation." The man stated.

Reimu raised an eyebrow. "How exactly did you...?!" In a brief instance, an image flashed inside her head for a second. An image of one of her allies, Youmu, lying in a pool of her own blood, dying. "What the…"

The man seemed to have noticed this, as he sensed an imbalance within the air. "So, it seems the continuum shift is beginning to weaken…" He then focused his attention back at the shrine maiden.

"Child of faith, what do you hope to accomplish within this realm?"

Reimu was getting more and more anxious as she shared the same space with the mysterious man. "I'm going to save Gensokyo. What more is there to expect? It's my duty as the Shrine Maiden to maintain balance, after all."

Again, the man became quiet, scrutinizing over the girl's words. "You have motivation, and your loyalty towards your people is admirable. However, your ignorance towards your own limits cripples your potential, and anger has stained your soul. There is no way for you to accomplish your task all by yourself."

He then started to reach towards the sword that hangs on his back. "More importantly, I sense hesitation within you. And for someone who is supposed to bring balance and Order back to her world, that is something I cannot allow."

Reimu placed one hand on her hip as she raised an eyebrow. "And who the hell are you to make that kind of judgement?"

" **ZEA!"** The man quickly drew his sword and held it in front of him. The entire area then started to quake, as a light blue aura surrounded his armored figure.

" _ **I am the White Void…**_

_**I am the Cold Steel…** _

_**I am the just sword!"** _

"W-what?!" Reimu started to take a couple steps back, marvelling at how much energy was being expelled at that point.

" _ **With blade in hand...shall I reap the sins of this world**_

_**And cleanse them in the fires of destruction!"** _

The blue aura that surrounded the man then exploded around him, knocking Reimu to the ground.

" _ **I AM HAKUMEN!**_

_**THE END HAS COME!"** _

…

"Ow…" Reimu muttered as she held her hand against a light gash near her ribs. "What the hell is happening?"

Although it was only a slight wound, it still hurt like hell. It was as if the blade was cutting open the fabric of space and time itself inside of her as it sliced through her skin. One strike like that was enough to put her out of commision for a while. Through out the entire battle, the man known as "Hakumen" deflected all her blows with his mighty sword, and sometimes even with his _bare hands._ He dodged all of her attacks, parried and swatted away her wand with his blade, slashed all of her projectiles, ofuda charms, and spells out the air with ease, and counter attacked by punching and kicking her whenever an opening was available. Sometimes even grabbing her arm or leg as she was about to attack, and merely threw her entire body over his shoulder, slamming her into the ground and breaking a few of her bones in the process. Only later on in the battle did he decide to actually use his weapon. His skill with a sword was one of which she had never experienced before, and it was only a matter of time until she was hit by the long blade.

Reimu could've seen that Hakumen was holding back during the fight, as if he was testing her. It vexed her that she wasn't able to punish him for doing so.

Currently, she was kneeling on the ground on one knee, as Hakumen stood a foot away from her, with his sword pointed towards her head.

"What's wrong? Was that really the extent of your conviction? Are you really The Order's chosen one?!"

"Why," she hissed, "Is this wound still bleeding?" Reimu was beginning to think that there wasn't going to be a favorable outcome in this fight.

"This isn't over yet. Rise." Hakumen commanded.

Just as she was about to continue the battle, she saw something coming from above in her peripheral, as did Hakumen. Like God's lightning striking down into the earth, Youmu flew down with her blade raised in one hand while the other gripped the sheath, and slashed her Roukanken at the white knight. Hakumen reacted quickly enough to raise his sword with one hand up to block the attack. White sparks flew as the two blades clashed against one another.

"Y-Youmu?"

"Reimu, run!" Youmu yelled.

"But-"

"Now! I'll hold him back. Get to the top of the building!" Youmu said as she pushed her blade against the knight's.

"You're crazy if you think I'm just going to leave you alone with thi-this masked freak!" Reimu argued.

" **GO!"** Reimu was taken back by the intensity in Youmu's voice. "This is my fight." Youmu said as she stared directly at Hakumen's blank mask.

"Hmm." Hakumen mused as he gazed into the half phantom's eyes.

The two swordsmen broke away from the clash, Youmu jumping back so that she was between the Shrine Maiden and the White Knight.

Reimu realized that arguing any further would be wasting precious time. Besides, her friend seems pretty dead set on fighting with this man for some strange reason. "Be careful alright? This man is incredibly strong." Reimu warned Youmu.

"I know."

"Wha- how could you possibly...Agh! Forget it." Reimu dropped the topic and flew away from the scene.

"You better not die on me!" Reimu yelled back to the half ghost. With a flashy flourish of her sword, Youmu sheathed her blade back into her scabbard, and gave the shrine maiden a thumbs up.

Now that the two were alone, Youmu turned her attention back to the White Knight in front of her.

"So, we meet again, specter." Hakumen said.

"Indeed, Lord Hakumen." Youmu replied back respectfully. She then prepared herself by hovering her hand towards the hilt of her sword that hung from the scabbard in her other hand.

"Fascinating. So you too are able to deflect phenomena intervention." Hakumen pointed out. "Then surely you know what it means…" He bent his knees as he got into his signature combat stance. "To stand before me."

….

* * *

**NEXT STAGE**

**ADVENTUS**

**HAZAMA**

* * *

**BGM: Fatal Judge**

**Adventus**

_The devil is not so black as he is painted..._

_**The 13th Hierarchical city -KAGUTSUCHI- AREA NoNumber** _

Under the orange clouds, there stood a green haired man in a black suit, waiting patiently by a tall glowing monolith. He stood there, hands in pockets, watching the bright and angelic cocoon that was nestled on top of the altar. Soon he heard the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs on the side of the cathedral, coming closer to him.

"Ah yes...I have been waiting for you." He said towards the oncoming Shrine Maiden.

Reimu walked forward, not saying a word.

"Ah! How rude of me, I should probably introduce myself." He took off his hat and placed it against his chest while he bowed low. "I am Captain Hazama of the NOL intelli-"

"Terumi" Reimu interrupted him. "You're Terumi, right?"

Hazama opened his eyes in surprise, before chuckling to himself as he placed his hat back on his head. " **Well now.** Looks like you remembered my name." He said darkly. Gone was the faux nice tone, as his voice now held nothing but slithering madness within his vocal cords.

"That's good. What else do you remember?"

"Not much, but since I've been here, I've been getting some weird flashes." Reimu said in a unsure tone.

"Hmm, now that I did not count on." Terumi said as he rubbed his chin. "Could it be something's happening to the Continuum Shift?" He scoffed.

"However, there's one thing I do know for sure." She then pointed her wand directly at the green haired man, who was mostly smiling in amusement. "You're the bastard who ransacked my home." She accused.

"Well, that's a pretty harsh accusation. Got any evidence to back that up?"

"Literally nothing but a gut feeling." Reimu admitted. But strangely, there wasn't a shred of doubt in her body at the judgment. "But I'm correct, aren't I?"

"Right on the money." Terumi flashed his teeth with a shameless grin. "A+!" He cheered as he clapped his hands condescendingly.

Reimu's neutral facade broke into an angry scowl.

" _ **Hahahahahaha!**_ " Terumi laughed. "Awww. What's the matter, Reimu? Someone getting under your skin? Well golly, maybe you should _kill them_. I'm sure that would make you feel better!"

Yeah, there was no doubt she was getting frustrated. There was an uncomfortable tingling aura tickling her skull at the moment, beckoning all sorts of negative energies and emotions.

"But wait! You're just too weak, aren't you?!" The man laughed. "You just don't have the guts, do you, you stupid bitch? You probably aren't even strong enough to fight me."

" _Do not ever lose your way"_

She forced herself to calm the roaring energies surrounding her mind, dispelling the dark Nox Nyctores slithering within her skull as she heaved out a deep and heavy sigh.

Reimu raised her gaze and looked at the man with determination, more annoyed than mad.

Terumi clicked his tongue in disappointment. "How boring. That _other_ vampire bitch told you, didn't she? She's starting to become a real pain in the ass."

"Remilia?"

"Y'know, because of that rat with wings, I never got done finishing you off last time…"

"Last time?" Reimu's brow rose.

"So now that you are here, let's finish where we left off, hmm?" He held up his hands as a chant was uttered. The air quaked, the whole foundation shook, and the air got noticeably darker in tone. "Let's see if that little of nugget of information can help you last longer than last time. Wanna take that bet, you dumb kid?!

**Restriction 666 released. Dimensional Interference Field deployed!"**

"I've seen this before…." Reimu realized.

"That's riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight! Let me give you another taste of true power, girl! **Code S.O.L Blazblue...activate!"** A sinister green magic circle was then summoned around the man.

"So that's how you absorbed the souls of Gensokyo!" Reimu exclaimed.

"What of it you shrine brat?! Can't you see that you're about to die?!" Terumi taunted.

…

**BGM: Raise (Blazblue story ost)**

"Well, Reimu. I'm impressed! That was a really nice work out you gave me there. Way better than last time."

Reimu was breathing heavily, clearly exhausted from the battle. Her legs shook as it struggled to maintain posture. There were small tears here and there on her red and white attire, plus a scratch or two marking her skin. Still, she managed to dish out an equal amount of damage towards the man, scoring a few hits of her own, and even knocked his hat away.

Now he stood not to far away, with his back in front of her. His hat was gone, showing off his green spiked up hair.

"Bastard…" Reimu cussed between breaths. "What are you planning to do with all these souls?"

"Huh?" Terumi gave the shrine maiden a strange look. "So it looks like not all of it is back, huh? The continuum shift still grips this world. Damn, and I was starting to get my hopes up."

He turned around with a chipper attitude. "Ah what the hell. Story time is my favorite past time, anyways!" He spread his arms wide. "But I'll keep it brief, so it doesn't hurt your brain, okay? To put it in laymans term; our world is fucked, however your world is not fucked, or _was_ not fucked. Time in this world is stuck in a cycle of repetition. Have you not noticed some people referring to events that hasn't happened yet, or maybe knew something that they shouldn't know?"

" _By now you are probably feeling an influx of negative emotions, particularly at a specific person." Remilia hypothesized with eerie accuracy. "Am I right?"_

" _I am familiar with your situation." Hakumen stated._

" _Be careful alright? This man is incredibly dangerous." Reimu warned Youmu._

" _I know."_

Reimu then pieced it together. "Was that the reason why…?" Terumi only chuckled as he read the young maiden's mind.

"That's right. By the looks of it, it seems that your vampire bitch has somehow gained the power to observe. Hakumen is Hakumen. Your ghost friend however….is more of an anomaly." Terumi stated as he rubbed his chin. "Going to have to get to the bottom of that eventually. Anyways, what you are experiencing right now is your second shift in this realm." He said as he raised two fingers up. "But going back to what I was saying, since time kept on repeating, it was kinda hard to get shit done, y'know? After every reset, I would have to orchestrate all this all over again, gather up all the troops in one location, and harvest their souls again and again and again. It was kind of a pain in the ass."

"You sacrificed your own soldier's souls?" Reimu said in a disgusted tone.

"Hey" Terumi chided. "No interrupting during story time. But yeah, as I was saying, the time loops were starting to become a real obstacle to our plans. But that all changed when we found your world floating in the farther side of the Boundary. Because your world operates on a different plain of time since it's so far away from ours, so your world is not affected by the time loops, and because of that, activities within your realm aren't affected either. So with a little use of some ars magus, and a little somethin somethin with my handy dandy Azure,and now we are able to make a mining operation of souls from your world, without the heavy tax of time loops! Now, instead of the time loops halting our progress, it only adds more time for us to gather souls for our weapon!"

"You monster." Reimu said, keeping a difficult tab on her hatred for the man.

"Aww, keep going. I'm starting to blush."

Ignoring his little comment, Reimu proceeded to interrogate the green haired man. "The hell are you planning on using your weapon for, anyways?"

"Why, the destruction of the source of the time loops." Terumi said simply. "See we aren't so bad. We just want to rid the world of a massive annoyance. But in order to take down something that grand, we need an equally grand sword to stab it with. And the number one resource that's needed to smelt such a sword?" He waited a second, giving Reimu time to come up with the answer. Before she could say anything however, he quickly blurted it out. "Souls!"

"Hmph…" Reimu merely shrugged. "So all I need to do is break your precious sword, and everything is fixed."

"Ha! Good luck with that, woman! In fact, since story time is over, let me give you a test run of our product..."

…

**AD2200/01/07**

**Heaven and Hell**

"NOW...Murakumo...activate!"

A loud heartbeat could be heard thumping from the colossal cocoon in the sky.

**BGM: Curse (Blazblue story ost)**

"This whole world is nothing but lies!

Lemme show you what I like to call truth! The truth called _despair!_

In the name of Susano'o, I command you! Murakumo awaken!

Behold the sword of the god-slayer, KUSANAGI!

Let all lies fall before your divine blade!"

Like an angel of destruction coming down from heaven, a blonde girl with a metal headpiece descended down from the cocoon, with divine light trailing down with her. Her shoulders were covered by a white cape, flowing with the wind as she was touching down in front of Reimu.

"Gahahahahaha! Finally, I've got the true successor to the Azure!

Try and stop me NOW, Master Unit….

**AMATERASU**!"

…

End


	12. Starstruck

_..._

**(BGM: Blazblue Blue Beating)**

…

_**Marisa Kirisame** _

Drive: Love Sign

Age: 17

Height: 5'3

Weight: 48 kg

Blood type: A

Affiliations: None

Position: Magician, Shop Owner, Burglar, Part-time Youkai Exterminator

Relatives: None, Mima (Master, Caretaker)

Hobbies: Reading, Learning new things, "Borrowing" items from people.

Values: Knowledge

Likes: Damn near anything (She is a kleptomaniac after all…)

Dislikes: Boredom

Natural Enemy: Phantom

Theme: EZEL ASH- Master Spark

Power: *****

Defense:**

Speed:*****

_The Ordinary Magician is on the case! When the calamity descended on her home, Marisa was one of the staunch supporters of Reimu's idea of invading Kagutsuchi in order to solve their dire dilemma. Now separated from her friends, the magician seeks to find out more information of this alien world she dove into…_

**Risk Rating: A+**

…

**Starstruck**

Noel sat on the seat of her swing, wondering about the future. She was cast away by Ragna after saving him not too long ago. It didn't make that much sense. She literally just saved him from falling down that cauldron in the lower levels several hours ago, and suddenly, everytime he looked at her, he looked almost disgusted. As soon as he got the chance, he immediately told her to get out of his sight. The nerve of that guy. She risked her life and possibly her career for him, and this is his way of saying thanks? Jerk…

"Ugh!" She growled in frustration. "What is wrong with that man?! I can't believe the nerve of him…"

As she sulked on her swingset, a feeling of doubt began to swell up inside her. "Did...did I do something wrong?"

Noel continued to propel herself back and forth on the swing, recalling the words she might have said to the man before he eventually told her to get lost. She couldn't recall any words that might've been deemed offensive.

"No! I didn't….atleast I don't think I did…" She muttered to herself. As she was sulking on her swingset, a small flash of light blinked in the sky above in the distance. Of course, due to her inner turmoil, she easily missed it.

Noel sighed. She was quickly starting to feel a little lonely all by herself in this empty park. Would be great if she could just vent this to someone like Makoto and Tsubaki.

She was brought out of her musing by a sound coming her way from above, with the volume increasing little by little.

" _Daaaa….!"_

It sounded like someone….screaming? The blonde turned her head upwards towards the sound. What she saw was another blonde girl in a black and white outfit flying towards the ground, with one hand holding tightly to the rather overly sized witch's hat adorned on her head, while her other hand was holding onto what looked like a broomstick.

"AHHHHHH!"

The bellowing girl soon crashed into the grass not too far away from the swingset Noel was sitting on, her face sliding across the earth painfully until she came to an eventual stop.

"Zeeeh~" she moaned as her body twitched on the ground.

Noel sat dumbstruck for a good few seconds, trying valiantly to register exactly what in the multiple circles of hell happened the past five seconds. Five seconds later, and she still had little idea what happened.

"Oh my gosh!" Nevertheless, Noel quickly got off the swing set and rushed over to where the mysterious girl crashed. "Are you okay?" She asked as she carefully turned the other girl around to get a good look at her face. What she saw was the face of a young girl, around her age to be exact. Her golden irises were a swirling mess, indicating some sort of concussion. Above the girl's head were a couple of dancing golden stars rotating in a circle.

"Uh...uh…" the mysterious girl stuttered as her eyes played with the stars.

"Oh no…" Noel started to look around her, hoping to find anyone with competent medical skills. "Hello? Come on, now. Time to wake up!" Noel waved her hands in front of the girls eyes, hoping to elicit any response. None. She tried to shake the girl's shoulders. Nothing. In fact, the girl stopped moving altogether. Her chest was no longer moving up and down. The girl wasn't breathing. Noel started to panic.

"Oh jeez….what do I do?" Noel cried as she grabbed her head in frustration.

" _Psst hey…"_ A voice in the back of her head whispered to her. " _Perhaps you could try mouth to mouth on her, ze."_

Mouth to mouth? Noel wondered if she was supposed to do that to a concussion victim. The voice in the back of her head quickly reassured her. Choosing to listen to her conscience, Noel lowered her head towards the woozy girl. She closed her eyes as she leaned forward, cheeks red as a tomato. As she got closer and closer however, Noel couldn't help but hear a soft giggle escaping from the lips of what was supposed to be a knocked out girl. Noel's eyes immediately snapped open to find the girl below her, puckering her lips.

"EHHH?!" Noel frantically jumped back, falling on her behind on the ground as the other girl howled an echoing laughter as she clutched her sides.

"Oh man, you should've seen your face, ze!" The mysterious girl said as she wiped a few tears away with a finger.

The blonde officer then glared at the other girl. "How dare you! I was seriously worried!"

"Ahahah… the sentiment's appreciated." The witch girl then grabbed one of the stars still floating on top of her head and took a huge bite of it. She grabbed another one with her second hand and offered it to the flustered blonde "Want one? Taste just like cookies."

"No!"

The witch shrugged and popped the second one in her mouth. Her eyes took in the other girl's figure and her attire. "So what are you? Some kind of stripper?"

Noel's blush increased in multiple shades as she unconsciously covered herself. "Excuse me?! I'm an officer of the NOL Praetorian guard!"

The other girl merely raised an eyebrow. The tone of the girl's voice implied that she was supposed to know that specific organisation. "What the hell is a nol? Is that, like, the name of a high class club or something?"

The statement struck Noel speechless for a second. "Y-you've never heard of the NOL before?"

"Nope." The magician said. "Do first customers get a lap dance for free?"

Frustrated and embarrassed, Noel's arms started to shake violently; her cheeks still red as an apple as she struggled to keep the tears in her eyes from leaking. There was no way anyone living on this world would not know what the Novus Orbis Librarium was. Unless they have been living under a rock, the NOL has been maintaining order throughout the entire world for decades upon decades now. Today just wasn't her day. First the incident with Ragna, and now comes a stranger making fun of her.

"A-As lieutenant of the Novus Orbis Librarium…" Suddenly, two large and silver handguns materialised in a golden flash of light. "I am placing you under arrest for the crime of harassing an officer!" She then pointed both guns towards the witch, whose grin started to grow at the challenge.

"Now you're speaking my language!" The witch said excitedly.

"Don't resist!" Noel screamed as she shot one of the guns at the witch. Oddly enough, nothing came out of the barrel, but the shot instead materialised mid air. The witch, however, easily back stepped from the shot. She let out an impressed whistle.

"Neat. A magical device that pierces through space, detonating wherever the wielder aims." The black and white witch observed as she held up an octagonal shaped item with her little and ring finger. The item then started to burn with a white light in the middle of the octagon. Expertly twirling her broomstick with her other hand, she soon threw it up in the air. She then jumped up high with a backflip, planting both of her feet firmly on top of the broomstick, which started to levitate up high. Holding the tip of her hat with one hand, she thrusted the octagonal item towards the blonde officer. "Show me more, ok?"

Blasts of white light then shot out of the octagon towards Noel. As the bullets came closer and closer, the girl began to feel herself being driven by her Nox. Like a machine, Noel easily danced through the hail of light, as if her body was on autopilot. She retaliated back by shooting more invisible blasts while she danced through the magical bullets.

Little yellow explosions lit around the magician as she surfed through the air on her broomstick, now properly sitting on the handle as she sped forward. Noel followed suit on the ground, keeping up with the mage on foot with two pistols trailing the broomstick in the air. The two combatants travelled through the vast green plains with equal speed, practically side by side. One in the air, the other on foot. Noel pulled both of her triggers as she ran, sending multiple ripples around the witch's airspace. The blonde witch juked around the blasts, occasionally slowing down her velocity to dodge an explosion in front of her before regaining her initial speed. Noel then focused aim on the witch herself, instead of the flying broomstick. The witch leaned back and forth on her broomstick to avoid the fire. Sensing more fire being aimed towards her, she jumped off her broomstick only to grab onto it and using the momentum to flip herself back onto the handle to keep herself moving, making her a more difficult target.

Now standing on her broomstick, the magician held out her octagon shaped catalyst and started to return fire with more bullets of white light. Noel jumped past the bullets, each one of them kicking up a massive storm of dust and dirt as it collided with the earth. Noel propelled herself towards the flying magician, thrusting her leg out for a kick. The witch, seeing the attack coming, grabbed hold of the handle of her broom and swung the entire stick mid air, parrying the kick. Noel then pushed herself further in the air by kicking the broomstick back and sending the mage to the ground, who quickly rolled off the dirt with little problem.

" **Bullet Rain!"** Noel shouted as she fired both of her guns in rapid succession. Only this time actual glowing energy blasts travelled past the barrel of the gun, flying towards the witch on the ground.

The witch cupped both her hands together, gathering mana and magical power between her palms. She then thrust both palms forward, sending a massive torrent of multi-colored star shaped energy projectiles. Each one of the celestial blasts colliding with one of the bullets from Bolverk. Noel grinded her teeth, getting more and more frustrated with the turn of events. Deciding to end the battle once and for all, she transformed her twin pistols into two gigantic missile launchers, with two green warheads pointing out of the barrels of her guns.

" **THOR!"**

Noel pulled and held the triggers, sending forth a volley of green shark faced missiles towards the witch, the warheads tearing through the star shaped energy blasts.

"Well now…" The witch mused as the missiles exploded all around her, all of which hitting their mark, erupting in a heavy cloud of smoke and fire. Noel landed on the ground; legs shaking and arms hanging limply from her shoulders. Panting heavily she said, "You...are under arrest…"

Silence hung in the air as the debris and smoke lingered about near the area the witch was standing in. All of a sudden, the familiar and cocky voice rang out from the cloud.

"Nah."

Noel gasped as the cloud of dirt split open as the witch flew towards her at hypersonic speed. The magician held onto the handle of her broomstick as blue white light trails behind her.

"Gonna need a lot more than that to catch me!" The witch said as she rammed into the officer. Noel screamed as she was knocked up high into the air.

"Ahhhhhh!" Noel squealed as she flailed in the air. As she was falling down, her dual pistols dissolved into the ether. Once that happened, she began to feel the gravity of her situation. Quite literally too. She was pretty high up. It would be a miracle if she would get away alive. Broken bones were pretty much guaranteed however. Noel closed her eyes, bracing for the inevitable impact.

Thud.

Noel hesitantly opened her eyes, and saw that that she was being carried in a bridal fashion by the very same spellcaster that knocked her up into the air in the first place.

"I win." The magician said with a smile.

Noel's face contorted from confusion to embarrassment. She raised both of her hands to cover her face, stifling the tears that threatened to fall. The magician sighed, before walking back to the playground, levitating the broom so that it was strapped to her back and carrying the blonde officer in her arms.

"Alright, alright. Let's unwind a little, ok?"

…

Makoto rushed through the foliage, following the scent of her best friend and using her instincts to guide herself through the forest. She had to hurry, to validate some of the things she had learned about the NOL. About Noel, and her involvement in everything. About that mysterious Captain.

"Hold on, Noellie." The beastkin said under her breath.

She skidded to a stop, however, when she heard a large boom echoing in the distance. She looked up in the sky and saw a small black dot zipping around above. She started to panic when she realised that the booms were coming from the location she smelled Noel.

"Shit" Makoto took off in a rush towards the sounds of the explosions. "Shit shit shit shit shiiiiiiiiiit"

…

Noel sat on the seat of her swing, her gaze casted downwards to the earth. Meanwhile on the swing right next to her, the mysterious blonde spellcaster was happily rocking back and forth. She halted to a stop when she glanced over to Noel. "Feeling better?"

"Hmm…" Noel hummed in response.

The stranger sighed. "Look,tensions are high. We started off at the wrong foot. I admit, I was mostly at fault. So let me start over." She extended a hand and gave a friendly smile. "Name's Marisa Kirisame, your ordinary magician! Nice to meet you ze." She said with a wink at the end.

Noel blushed and looked away for a second before recomposing herself and extending her own hand to shake the magician's. "N-Noel Vermillion. Nice to meet you…" Noel said with a smile of her own.

"Noel Vermillion, huh." Marisa said. "Cute name."

Noel giggled. "Stop it." She played with her fingers. "Miss Marisa?"

"What?" Marisa looked appalled. "Nah nah, that's something someone would call me when I'm old. Drop the honorifics, Noel." She said with a wink along with a lack of any honorifics.

Noel couldn't help but break out a smile at her friendly nature. "Marisa then."

Marisa grinned, showing off her white teeth. "Hey, my bad about earlier. I just felt like teasing yah is all."

"It's fine. I was...kinda at fault too." Noel said before finally rocking herself on the swing. "So, were you serious about not knowing what the NOL was?"

Marisa leaned back, clasping both her hands behind her head. "Yeah, no clue what that is or even means. Mind clueing me in?"

Noel was quiet for a second. "How do you not know? The Novus Orbis Librarium is the Global regulator for a while now." She gasped and held one hand to her mouth. "Oh I'm sorry. That came out rude."

Marisa merely waved it off. "It's fine, its fine." She said. "Though that explains why I didn't know."

Noel raised her brow. "Explains how?"

The magician gave her a cheeky grin. "Ain't from this world, ze!"

…

Makoto started to slow down when the sounds of explosions slowed to a stop. The beastkin could only think up two obvious scenarios as to why the sound of fighting died down. Best scenario was that whoever attacked Noel lost and was on the ground beaten, which wasn't completely out of the question considering the unusually high Ars synchronicity she has. Then there's the other possibility, which got Makoto's heart racing. She took off with a sprint once again, applying more speed to her run, hoping that the former possibility happened rather than the latter.

…

"Eh...?"

"Yup!" Marisa nodded. "I'm a magician from another universe made up of magic and mystical beings ze!" She said as she pointed towards herself with her thumb.

Noel merely cocked her head to the side before leaning forward from her swing to lay a hand on the other girl's forehead, much to the magician's dissatisfaction. "Are you sure you're ok?" Noel asked in a concerned voice. "That crash was probably worse than we thought…"

"Geez, I'm fine!" Marisa groaned as she swatted the girl's hands away from her forehead. "I know it probably sounds weird for you, but hear me out here." She said with a wink. Noel still looked apprehensive, but stayed silent.

From there, the magician started to explain her situation to the blonde officer, talking about herself and where she came from. She would often go into details about the nature of Gensokyo, describing the subjects and magic, often giving brief demonstrations of magic belonging to her own. Noel looked obviously confused, but for the most part did nothing but listen intently. If nothing, this was at least an interesting story she could distract herself with.

Marisa would often slow down whenever the other girl tilted her head, but for the most part, she seemed to have understood the majority of the magician's words. Finally she was finished.

"So there you go." Marisa finished off.

For the most part, Noel was at a lost for words. From the description Marisa had given her, it was way too in depth to be a symptom of a concussion. Of course, that depended on how hard the magician crashed. But on the whole, it seemed almost genuine. Strangely enough, Noel believed her. She didn't know why, she just _knew_ this magician was telling the truth.

"Noel?"

The blonde officer's eyes started to grow distant as she stared at the magician. Her iris began to lose clarity. Marisa cocked her head at the odd empty green pools. "Hey…"

Noel immediately snapped out of it, shaking her head furiously. "Sorry.." she muttered.

Marisa rose a brow. "Still think I'm crazy?"

Noel shook her head. "I believe you."

Marisa was taken back, albeit briefly. "Huh, thought it might take a little bit more detai-"

Noel shook her head more, almost pleadingly. "No! I-I believe you, ok?"

After Marisa was done explaining her story, Noel was suddenly immersed within her thoughts. She pondered the magician's words, forming them into images. She replayed them in her mind, almost with frighteningly crystal clear detail. "That's horrible…" she whispered as she leaned forward from her swing, looking downwards almost like she was about to puke.

Marisa merely sighed. "Yeah. It's not the most ideal situation" she said before she began to swing on her set. "Still though, I'm not gonna let it get to me." She turned her head. "But you seem like something's bothering you."

"Eh?" Noel snapped her gaze back to the wizard.

"Written all over your face, ze." Marisa gave a teasing grin. "Come on. Spill it. You've listened to my story. Might as well return the gratitude."

Noel looked apprehensive before she started to twiddle her thumbs. "It's uh...has something to do about my work…"

"That 'nol' thing right?"

"It's not 'nol'!" Noel said. "The NOL stands for the Novus Orbis Librarium. Which is basically the world's official leading government."

"Huh…" Marisa rubbed her chin. "That right?"

"Yeah...but...recent events make me…" Noel racked her brain for the right word. "Uncertain about the NOL."

Marisa hummed as she nodded. "Shady shit going on, huh?"

Noel stifled back a giggle. "That's a way to put it. But last night I stumbled across one of my superiors, and he was a bit...off. Mixed in with your situation, I'm starting to have doubts about the NOL."

"Hmmm…" Marisa could feel the cogs in her head turning. "Then what are you going to do?"

Noel pondered her options. "I think…" she said lightly. "I think I'm going to back...to the headquarters, I mean. There are some things I need to find out, and I have a feeling the person I need to see is also there too."

"Perfect!"

Noel looked at the magician with a questioning look. "Huh?"

"Might as well tag along, you know? This NOL place seems pretty sketch by your words, and seems to be the perfect starting point to learn more about this world. You could also say I have a thing for libraries."

Noel eyed her warily. "Wait...what do you mea-"

"Don't worry about it!" Marisa said heartily. "So Noel. Mind giving me a tour?"

Noel sighed and gave a weary smile. "I suppose so. That way I won't be so lonely." She leaned in closer and gave a teasing grin. "Just be sure to be on your best behavior. I can't have you doing anything bad while we're in base, or else I'll have to arrest you." Noel said jokingly.

Marisa bowed low in a gentlemanly manner, although hidden beneath the brim of her hat was a gleam in her eyes. "You have my word, Lieutenant Vermillion."

…

Makoto slid across the ground into a small line of bushes next to a couple of trees. Currently, she was on the outskirts of a small opening, with a wide open plain in the middle of a field of trees. She hid under the foliage, hearing the sounds of two people getting up from something, while the sound of chains rattling rang in the air. She peered her head from the leaves to find her friend alive and well, talking to a slightly taller woman in a witch's outfit.

"Noel?" Makoto whispered silently.

The blonde was getting up from a swing set alongside the mysterious girl in a black and white outfit. The young officer seemed to laugh out loud when the magician said something Makoto couldn't make out. Growing curious, and a little skeptical, she continued to skulk around the outlines of the trees, making sure to be close enough to hear the two's conversations while being out of sight. However, that meant that she would have to keep her head down and rely only on her hearing rather than her sight to judge what's going on.

"And then all the dolls in the house started poking at me with their spears until I was out of the house! Needless to say, I wasn't allowed back in for a couple of weeks." The black and white witch said as she lazily walked on.

Noel laughed again as she wiped the tears forming in her eyes. "Well, I can't exactly blame her for what you did to her kitchen...and half of her house."

"Hey, wouldn't have happened if she didn't make such a big fuss about cooking."

Noel giggled. "You know, I wouldn't mind cooking you something after this is all over."

"You'd really do that?"

"Yup! I cook for my friends all the time!"

Makoto couldn't hear much from her position, so she carefully moved closer until everything was audible. Her ears popped up from the foliage, but other than that she kept her head low.

"Woow, Alice always complains when I ask her to make me food." The witch then rubbed her chin as a mischievous grin formed. "Noeeeel" She sang as she draped an arm around the small girl's shoulders. "Marry me, ze."

Makoto's ears twitched.

_What._

"What?!" Noel exclaimed, her cheeks flushed.

"Come on! I suck at cooking, and you seem to be good at it. Ahhhh, to wake up every morning to a delicious home cooked meal." The mage said whimsically, leaning slightly onto the other blonde.

There was just so many things wrong with that statement. Makoto's head bobbed out of the bushes, a baffled expression gracing her young face.

Noel's face only reddened more. She twiddled her thumbs in apparent embarrassment, both by the sudden declaration and at someone saying something about her cooking. "I-if-I uh." Noel stuttered. "I mean- I wouldn't mind cooking for you every once in a while. B-but.."

The mage playfully poked the officer's red cheeks. "Buuut...?"

Makoto could feel a vein pulsating against the skin of her forehead. Her hands aching to rip the witch's arms off her sockets for touching her friend.

"U-um" Noel fumbled with her thumbs. "Y-you can't rush this. There are steps."

"There's no rush." Marisa said. "What is time when dealing with something as powerful as _love!?_ " She finished with a dramatic flair.

Noel stretched her standard issue blue beret so that the brim was over her eyes. Makoto, seeing enough, chose to leap from her place into the air.

Marisa laughed as she patted the young girl's back. "Haha! I'm just jok- eh?"

She heard the sound of a fierce battle cry. Relying purely on her instincts; she placed a hand on her hat to make sure it didn't fall off as she dashed away, narrowly dodging from the spot that used to be a patch of land. Makoto's fist made contact with the earth, reducing the spot where the witch was into a gigantic crater, which knocked Noel back slightly.

"Stay away from her, you freak!"

"Eh?! Makoto?!" Noel exclaimed.

Marisa whistled, admiring the beastkin's strength. Judging from the girl's hat, she deduced that the brunette was also a part of the nol thing. She also noted the giant squirrel tail that hung behind, almost mistaking her for a musasabi, or another kind of squirrel youkai. Almost.

Makoto stood in front of Noel in a protective manner, motioning for the other girl to back away. "Noel, stay back. I'll take care of her."

"Makoto wai-"

"All right, you witch bitch." Makoto seethed. "I'm not gonna let no Halloween reject touch my Noellie!"

"Ohhh, I see." Marisa said with a teasing grin. "We're going to fight for her affection now? Seems a little retro, but I'm game." She said as she magically willed the broomstick from her back to her hand.

Makoto reddened. "Wha?! You…I'll make you eat those words!" With a flourish, Makoto unclipped the straps of her black cloak, and tossed it high into the air, revealing her "battle attire" underneath. On her was a orange top that left little to the imagination along with an orange cloth-like skirt, barely hiding the black undergarments that hung around her hips. Marisa couldn't help but stare.

"All right. Bring it!" Makoto said as she shadow boxed the air in front of her. "I'll show you not to mess with…" Makoto paused when she realised the lack of clarity in the blonde witch's eyes and where they were glued to.

"Uh hey." Makoto said, annoyed. "Up here, sister."

"Yeah yeah." Marisa said as she waved her hands dismissively. "It's just...uh…wow" she diverted her attention away from the beastkin to look at the embarrassed Noel Vermillion. "Are you sure my whole 'stripper' theory wasn't off?"

Noel buried her entire face into her gloved palms. "Ughhh...Makoto!" Noel practically moaned in humiliation. "Stop! She's a friend!"

Makoto kept her guard up, but she inched her head towards the blond officer. "Are you sure, Noel? Something doesn't seem right about her."

"It's the smell, isn't it?" Marisa joked. "I was kinda in a rush to get here…"

Noel gently pulled on the beastkin's arms, calming the girl down. "I can explain."

Makoto looked at Noel for a second before raising her arm to catch the falling black NOL cloak from the sky, fastening it around her body and eliciting an audible 'aw' from the spellcaster.

"All right. I'm all ears."

…

The trio was now located in the shades of the forest, with Marisa leaning on the trunk of a tree and the two officers talking nearby. Noel just got done explaining the magician's problem and how and why she got to where she was.

"I don't buy it" Makoto looked at the blonde spellcaster.

"Yeah?" Marisa challenged. "Well neither do I when it comes to your reason of clothing. Flexibility my ass."

Makoto shot the witch an indignant look. "You got a problem with what I'm wearing?"

"Me? Oh don't get me wrong, I am not complaining _at all._ " Marisa snickered when she saw the other girl redden. "But maybe you should be a little more honest with yourself?"

Makoto growled as her fist started to shake. Noel calmed her friend down. "Ehehe...she has a pretty weird sense of humor."

To this, the magician merely shrugged contently.

Makoto looked back at her friend. "Noel, are you sure you should let this girl tag along with you?"

Noel saw the distrust in her friend's eyes. "Please, Makoto." Noel pleaded. "I really do believe her!"

"How can you?" Makoto said, unsure about the girl. "I don't know what you're seeing, but to me, it's still far fetched. Like, from here to the moon, far fetched."

"I don't know how to explain it, but I just _know_ , ok? And think about it. Lately I've been finding out more and more about what goes on in the NOL."

"I….argh!" Makoto shook her head. "Thats...thats what I wanted to talk to you about today. Have you noticed anything...off about Captain Hazama?"

Noel's thoughts drift back to the day before. "I have. He's planning something, Makoto. I think he might have something to do with Marisa and everything else around here."

On that, she agreed one hundred percent. Suddenly, her communicator in her ear started buzzing. Kokonoe needed her somewhere, pronto. She needed to go _now._

' _Crap...'_

Makoto looked back at Marisa, who was still leaning against the tree trunk with her arms folded in a lackadaisical manner. The blonde shot her a wink; not a devious one, but one that was good natured.

Makoto sighed before turning around and striding up to the blonde spellcaster. "You." She said as she poked the magician's chest with a finger. "She's under your care now! If I find out that she's been hurt in any way while she's with you, I'll pummel you to the moon and stars, capiche?!"

Marisa smiled as she looked into the beast kin's eyes. She calmly lowered the finger away from her breasts. "Don't worry. I'll make sure she stays safe."

"Hmph…" Makoto huffed as she turned around. "Alright Noellie, you go do what you need to do."

"You're leaving, Makoto?" Noel said dejectedly.

"Yeah." Makoto gave an apologetic smile. "Important business came up." She hugged the blonde, who reciprocated with equal force. "Be safe, ok?"

"I will."

Makoto released the girl and gave the other blonde a look, who in turn nodded. In a gust of wind, she disappeared into the branches, hopping away towards the coordinates that Kokonoe relayed to her.

Both Noel and Marisa stood as they heard the rustles of the branches traveling further and further beyond.

Noel gave the magician an apologetic smile. "Sorry about that, Marisa."

"It's fine." Marisa said. "She really cares a lot for you." She turned around and headed towards the outside of the forest. "You gotta keep your friends close while you still have them, after all."

Noel couldn't help but hear a tinge of sorrow within that statement. Even still, the magician's face still stayed the same.

…


	13. Plastic Terror

...

**Kagutsuchi Port: Sun Set**

Marisa felt awed by the feel of the bustling city. When Noel lead her to the more populated sections of Kagutsuchi, Marisa couldn't help but feel slightly winded by the sheer size of the massive urban setting. The magician had never been in such a (and she used this term as loosely as possible) modern landscape as this. The multiple blinking lights on top of colossal buildings that seem to span on forever, and the tiny citizens that move like a colony of ants along the pavement. Currently, both Noel and Marisa maneuvered through entire mobs of pedestrians, however most moved out of the way due to seeing the blue attire that Noel wore. The blonde felt antsy, obviously still not entirely used to the respect she garnered from the public due to her position. As they both moved through the city, Marisa could see enormous ships flying near by, to and from the docks. The flying behemoths mostly resembles a normal boat, however with golden holograms littered around the sides and the top. In the front, she could see the crest of an angelic cross with a halo orbiting on top of it. On the sides was a statue of a silver woman with angel wings sprouting from her back. Way over in the distance, she spotted a giant golden antique looking clock in front of a gear. She quickly concluded that they were currently traveling through a sort of port for the city. She marvelled at the twilight purple sky and how the massive architecture somehow effortlessly floated above the side of the mountain, where she could see the clouds gliding below.

"Hey Noel."

"Hm?" Noel glanced behind as she walked.

"Tell me about this world." Marisa asked. "Like, how did this world come to be."

"Hmm…" Noel put a finger to her chin. She wasn't much of a history buff, as anyone could tell from her subpar grades back in the academy. Still, she heard the stories from Tsubaki so many times, she could practically retell the tales in it's entirety.

"Well, might as well start from the beginning."

_Long ago, before the world was full of seithr, there was a Black Beast. A colossal monstrosity that knew only of destruction and chaos. A beast so great, it eclipsed continents. A beast so deadly, entire fortresses and cities crumbled before it's very wake. A beast so toxic that it's body spread the poison known as seithr throughout its destructive path. A beast so powerful, it effortlessly devoured half of the world in its maw. For a while, humanity was nothing more than food supply. The human race was driven to the brink of extinction. They fought back, of course, utilizing the most advanced weaponry of the scientific era in an attempt to slay the monster, by launching the entire nuclear arsenal of every country of the world. However, the blows from the warheads did nothing to the beast. Not even tickled it. Exhausting all their resources to the absolute limits, humanity could do nothing but submit to death._

_But luckily, there was hope._

**BGM: Altar (Blazblue)**

_Out of nowhere, in mankind's darkest hours, a white knight appeared and lead five champions, who stood and fought against the Black Beast and managed to fend the monster back, giving humanity enough time to prepare itself. For a whole year, the Beast remained dormant, and the Six Heroes took charge of the last remnants of humanity, teaching them new powers and ways of the universe and thus creating the force known as the Ars Magus._

"Ahhh, now I see…" Marisa said. "Since most humans don't have the aptitude for true sorcery, they had to make due to using technology to manipulate seithr."

"That's right!" Noel said, surprised at how quickly the magician catched on. "I didn't even get to explain Ars yet."

"I know a little bit about seithr under my master's tutelage, and I was able to analyze your guns during our little brawl. While it's not as potent as true magic, it can take decades to learn even simple spells for a human with no magic potential, something you guys couldn't afford in that year." Marisa explained. "But keep going. I'm intrigued."

_And so, with their new found powers and knowledge, humanity was able to fight back against the Black Beast alongside the Six Heroes. What was once a losing battle, turned into large scale retribution for the entire human race. Soon afterwards, the Beast was finally slain by Hakumen, the leader of the six. And thus, the Dark war ended with the monster's dying breath._

"That's a pretty cool tale." Marisa said. "You sure know a lot about your history."

"Oh no." Noel shook her head. "It's just that one of my friends is a huge fan of Hakumen and the rest of the six. She would retell the stories to me and Makoto so many times that we practically just memorized the entire story." The officer laughed and said, "Needless to say, History was one of the easier classes back in the academy."

Marisa chuckled as she surveyed more of the city. "So what happened after the war?"

"Well, after the war, the ones who made the grimoires for the Ars decided it would be beneficial to regulate who would wield it's power. That organization grew in power and became what we know as the Librarium today."

"That's laaaaaaaaaame!" Marisa frowned. "Magic shouldn't be restricted to everyone like that. That's just not fun."

"But there are just some people who are too dangerous to let them use that type of power." Noel said.

"It works both ways, Noel." Marisa replied. "What makes you think that the people working with you don't fall under that category too?"

With this, the blonde officer couldn't say anything.

"A fair assessment, magician." A sophisticated voice rang out from one of the corners of the building.

**BGM: Premonition (Blazblue OST)**

"Wha-?!" Marisa was startled when a pair of red razor sharp blades hovered near her jugular.

Noel looked back to see the magician being held up by a human sized mechanical red doll, with one of it's arms holding the witch by the waist and the other raised towards the blonde's neck with an extended blade coming out of it's wrist. Seeing the scene, most of the civilians started to run away until there was only the three standing there.

"That's Carl's…!" Noel muttered before she heard the voice again.

"However a hierarchical standpoint is often necessary for progress. There must be ones who rule above others." The voice said. Noel looked around in front and saw a man in a magenta tinted cloak with a rather peculiar golden opera mask hiding the upper half of the man's face.

"A scientist does need lab rats, afterall." The man said.

"Who are you!" Noel said warily.

"Me? Why I'm just a researcher marvelling at two very interesting specimens needed for my work."

The way he said those words mixed with how he looked at her made Noel's insides squirm. It was as if he wasn't even acknowledging the fact that she was a person. She was just a _thing_ in his eyes.

"Ahh, Prime Field number 12, eh?"

Noel froze in fear.

"I suspected you to be a total failure, but it seems that you are functioning rather well so far. And it looks as if you've become the new 'eye' now." He laughed cruelly.

"What are you talking about?!"

"What a masterpiece. Perhaps I've misjudged you."

"A-Answer me!" Noel cried out. Marisa tried to struggle, but for every small movement, every single mere twitch, the red blade got closer and closer to ripping out her throat. Already she could feel the skin breaking and a steady stream of blood traveling down her neck.

The man merely ignored her. "It looks like I've still got much to learn. I think it's time I take you back and examine you more carefully."

Noel's breath hitched in her throat. Tears were threatening to fall. She felt fear. The man smiled wickedly.

"And that's not all." His twisted gaze shifted from the fear stricken officer to the blonde magician that hung in his wife's arms.

"You've also been traveling with one of the phenomenons. What fortune that I stumbled into both of you."

"Wha?" Noel looked back at Marisa, and saw for the first time that the witch had on a grim face. Not at all like the cheerful, devil-may-cry exterior she usually had.

"Then I take it you're the one responsible for corrupting Gensokyo?" Marisa said in an unusually steady voice.

"I played my part in it, yes." The mad scientist said shamelessly. "For instance, I was the one who found your world in the boundary. I must say, it's quite fascinating. I could not have imagined a more fitting place to accelerate our plans."

Marisa's mind flickered back weeks prior to the incident. Memories of the mechanical girl flashed before her mind. In fact, the doll strangely looked alot like Noel.

"Then that girl…"

"Ahh yes. Prime Field number 9. She proved to be a valuable asset." He then looked back to Noel, whose knees gave way, causing the girl to fall. He then started to walk towards the girl slowly. From the girl's angle, the shadows started to entice around the man's cloak, except for his eyes, which glowed white in the darkness.

"And soon, you will too." He said.

"S-Stay back!" said as she scooted away from the cloaked scientist. Marisa secretly lifted her middle finger, which had a hidden string attached to her glove that dropped something within her sleeve down and caught it within her fingers. A small vial filled with sparkling dust.

Suddenly, a black portal appeared right beneath Noel. The swirling circle pushed the man slightly back, causing his cape to flutter behind him. The edges of the circle held flowing rose petals.

"Hmm...that's…" The man observed.

"Magic…" Marisa whispered.

"Huh?" Noel yelped as the portal closed around her, sucking her into the ground and disappearing into the ether.

The mysterious man sighed as he shook his head. "How unbecoming of an observer." He then locked eyes with the witch, who returned the look back with full force.

"Still, Hazama will take care of her as he's always done before. What I'm more interested in is you." He said as he strode up to the hanging witch, grabbing the blonde's chin. She could feel the man looking into her mind and heart.

"Your soul is quite remarkable." He chuckled. "Very much so! Even in the darkest moment of your life, your soul still shines brighter than others. It's...astounding."

Marisa grinned. "I try."

"I wonder though. Is it the strength of your will? Or are you merely repressing your memories?"

"Who knows?" The witch said lazily.

"Oh well." The man said as he turned the young girl's head in his hand to the side, as if he was inspecting a fascinating piece of rock. "I will learn more eventually, as I conduct more experiments on you."

"Wouldn't bet on it, freak. And I'd like it if you'd take your hands off my face." Marisa said as she dropped the vial from her fingers. "You simply don't have the...'puppeteer's touch' that I'm used to."

"What?" Relius was suddenly taken back by a sudden explosion. The entire area flashed, blinding all who weren't prepared. When Relius gathered his bearings, he noticed the Witch missing from his doll's arm.

"Well done…" He addressed the witch, who was a few feet away from him.

"Oh, I ain't done yet ze." Marisa said as she grabbed her broomstick from her back and readied her Mini-Hakkero with her other. "Not before I stuff that mask of yours down your throat."

"Hmph, Ignis." He snapped his finger and the doll immediately made a mad dash towards the magician, pulling back one of its arms, readying to claw the girl's shoulders off.

…

"Ahhh!" Noel screamed as she was suddenly plopped down to the ground by an unknown force. She rubbed her backside as she surveyed her new surroundings. She was currently in a dark cave. She looked out of the cave and saw the entire city of Kagutsuchi in the distance.

"H-how?!"

"Easy there, kid." A gruff voice came from the shadows of the cave, making the young officer jump. Coming out in the open was a cat beastkin in an orange robe. "Sorry there, I didn't mean to startle ya-"

"We gotta go back!" Noel said as she grabbed the beast kin's shoulders while she was on her knees, no longer having the strength to stand.

**BGM: Plastic Night II**

"Wh-why?" The beastkin stuttered.

"Because she's back there! All alone with...with" Noel choked.

"Easy, easy there, kid!" Jubei calmed the girl down for a second. "Who did you leave behind, and with whom?"

Noel looked up with shallow, fear stricken eyes. "Marisa...with...with…"

"With?" Jubei asked. "Come on now."

"Red puppet….golden mask." She whispered, as if she was fearing the words she was saying.

Jubei's eyes widened. He knew who the girl was talking about going by those details. Just the very description got the cat shaking in his robes.

"Ah...crap."

…

Marisa grunted in pain as she was knocked back further into the sky, barely hanging on to the handle of her broomstick. The puppeteer floated not too far away and snapped his finger, summoning his doll right next to him.

"Damn...hah... ok." Marisa said under her breath. "Not a pushover, aren't ya?"

"Hmph." Relius merely adjusted his mask and spread an arm out. " _Volant!"_

The doll transformed mid flight into a rolling buzz saw and was travelling towards the magician, spinning it's razor blades.

"Crap!" The magician quickly descended in flight, narrowly ducking underneath the mechanical death machine.

" _Lacerro!"_ Marisa could see from her peripheral that the puppeteer was motioning his hand towards the doll again. She turned around to see the doll unforming from the buzz saw form into it's regular stance. Two large blades extended from its wrists, as it dashed towards her again. It blitzed across the distance, startling the magician, and slashed its blades diagonally once, then followed it with another swing in a dance-like fashion. Marisa maneuvered her broom stick, skillfully dodging the first two strikes cleanly. The doll then followed it's strikes with a final horizontal swing, twirling it's body not unlike a ballerina.

Marisa jumped above the blade, grabbing hold of her broom handle with both hands, and swinging it down over her head.

"Take this!"

The doll reacted quickly enough to catch the broom stick with it's oversized claw, leaving the witch hanging on to the handle in front of it's waist. It raised the broom stick so that the witch was eye level as it pulled back it's other hand.

"Ohhh...not good." Marisa simply said as she hanged from her broom with one arm.

As the doll thrusted it's free hand towards the witch's neck, Marisa released her hold on the broomstick, falling away from the doll's claw as it narrowly grazed the tip of her hat. Time seemed to have slowed down as she quickly got out her Mini-Hakkero and pointed towards the doll's face.

"Kaboom, Bitch!" She shot a blue star shaped energy bullet point blank at the doll, blowing it back and sending it staggering across the air, making it drop the broomstick from it's metal hand.

As she was freefalling from the sky, she plucked two fingers into her mouth and uttered a sharp whistle. The falling broomstick stiffened for a second, like a dog hearing it's master calling for it, and flew straight for the blonde, hovering under the witch until she had a good grip on the broom handle. Now in control, she stilled her descent and hovered in the air safely.

The puppeteer simply watched the witch with mild satisfaction.

"Impressive…" He said as he looked towards his doll. The mechanical woman had a few electrical currents leaking from her body. He snapped his finger, teleporting her away so that she may recharge her energy.

"Not so tough without your robot girlfriend, are ya?" Marisa gloated from her broomstick.

Relius huffed. "She merely needs a moment's rest. What kind of partner would I be if I didn't give her at least that?"

"She regenerates huh?" Marisa sighed. "Then I'll just finish you off before she's done resting!" She quickly fired a large beam of blue light at the man after finishing her sentence. Relius brought forth a large mechanical green hand from underneath his cape, shielding the blast with barely a problem. While the blast did nothing to him physically, he could feel the effects stinging his soul, a clear indication of true magic at work, a dangerous and rare aptitude nowadays. He would have to tread carefully when dealing with this girl for this reason alone. However, he studied the arts of the arcane and was fluent of it's understandings just as he was in his knowledge of science. He smirked before releasing a black orb, with golden gears circling around it, from his cloak, which then proceeded to track to the witch's position.

Marisa raised up a magical barrier, and blocked the black orb. The orb kept pushing against her shield though, pushing the witch back slightly. She gritted her teeth and held her place, taking slight damage in the process however as the blast manage to slip past her barrier, albeit very slightly. When the blast died down, she was startled to find that the masked man has disappeared. Like a shadowy red ghost, he crept up behind the witch.

"Do pay attention."

Marisa turned around, only for the puppeteer to grab her collar with his mechanical green arm. "Whoa, hey! Let go-whoa!" He then ruthlessly threw her across the sky and snapped his fingers. As she was just about to recover, the crimson doll suddenly appeared in a flash of pink, slapping the witch with it's arms downwards, slashing her shoulders. The witch was sent tumbling down, her mind in a daze for a second before she fully recoiled in the air.

"Ignis, finish her." Relius commanded.

The green eyes glowed upon the request and the doll extended its blade once more, spinning it's body around and around like a top and gaining more and more momentum until it became a whirlwind of pink and red as it picked up speed towards the witch.

Marisa got off her broom stick and held it with both hands and swung around and around, mimicking the doll until she herself became a whirlwind of movement. "And around we go!"

As she spun, she began to glow yellow until she became a golden tornado; glitters of stars started to glow around the edges of her broomstick and the occasional flashes of yellow lightning flickering around her as well. The two eventually collided against each other, and like two spinning tops banging against each other, they would occasionally get pushed back only to smash back into one another again and again until eventually when they collided for the last time. They would collide, with both the doll's blades and the witch's broomstick clashing multiple times with a force so great, lightning started to erupt near the middle of the collision area. The doll eventually won in the end, managing to interrupt the witch's momentum and push her down towards a platform toward the port. She crashed into the pavement, her eyes swirling from spinning around so much. In her dizzy state, she couldn't help but see multiple floating eggs with angel wings circling around her head as she stood up.

"Of all things. Why eggs?" she muttered as she shook her head.

The puppeteer and his android touched down side by side a few feet away, with the doll having nothing more than a few scratches on her frame, while the man looked no worse than he did when the battle started.

"A valiant effort, my dear." Relius said. "But I've dealt with spellcasters and magic users before. You can't beat me."

Marisa winced in pain when she felt her shoulder starting to bleed. "Maybe…" she said begrudgingly. This man was simply in another tier compared to herself. She could just unleash her more destructive spells, such as her Master Spark, but doing so would cause far too much collateral. Even then, she had doubts it would be any more effective, since that damn doll would just keep coming back like a bad case of herpes. At least when she shot down Alice's dolls, they would stay down. This red bitch was different, as it would stick to her like old gum in hair, making her unable to charge up any decently damaging spell cards. She silently searched for something within her brown pouch behind her.

The mad scientist started to walk towards her, with the doll hovering behind him like his shadow. "Now... be a good girl, and submit yourself to me."

She couldn't help but smirk at him. "Hate to break it to ya ze. I'm anything but a 'good girl.''" She finally found what she was looking for, and quickly threw it at the dastardly duo. "Think fast!"

A cluster of multi colored gems sailed through the air towards the puppeteer and his doll. Once it was over their heads, the gems combusted into a shower of glitter, raining down onto the two. If Marisa could see underneath the mask, she imagined that she would've seen the man raise his eyebrows. Suddenly, a wave of heavy force started to push down onto both him and the doll as a purple shroud of energy started to cover around him in the form of a crystal like bubble. His shoulders slightly sagged as the gravity around him intensified a thousand times fold. The ground underneath him started to shatter from the force, but Marisa was surprised to see that the puppet master was still standing upright, along with his doll, who was only slouched in the field. Anyone else would've had their bones turned to dust in mere seconds underneath the gravitational field.

"I see…" Relius said with an even tone. "Gravity Seed, huh?"

He slowly raised a hand against the gravitational barrier, grafting a golden glowing crest against the astral surface. He withdrew his hand and turned towards his doll.

"Darling? If you would please..."

The doll nodded before turning both of her claws into spinning drill blades. She plunged both tips into the center of the glowing crest, drilling into the Gravity Seed barrier. Marisa felt her heart sank as she witnessed her barrier starting to crack within mere seconds.

Marisa raised a hand to her forehead. "Gimme a break ze" she muttered the phrase she often used whenever she was in a tight situation. Well, fighting is obviously not an option anymore, onto the next course of action. She turned and ran away from the two into a dark alleyway, hoping to create as much distance before they would break free from her bind.

Relius watched as the witch disappeared into the shadows of the alleyway.

"So, she chose to escape? I would've expected a more...aggressive course of action, considering the extent of her incident." He chuckled as the barrier around him shattered. "Still...she has proven to be quite competent in battle. She will make a fascinating Detonator. Ignis we're leaving." The doll nodded and the both of them were gone in a flash of red.

Moments later, a black portal appeared out of nowhere, and an elderly man in a butler's suit could be seen rushing out of it with his claws extended.

"Relius Clover!" He snarled, but as he looked around, he soon realised that no one was nearby. The only thing he saw was the wreckage of a port, clearly caused from the aftermath of a battle.

"Good god, I hope I didn't arrive too late."

…

Marisa huffed as she sprinted across the empty dark streets of the Hierarchal city. She wasn't going to deny it; the way her heart pumped and her irises dilated. She was kind of scared of that masked freak, because halfway through the fight, she realized that the automaton she was duking it out with in the air actually had a soul within its metal frames. The doll was actually, for all intents and purposes, a living thing, and that freaked her the fuck out. The way he also addressed the doll indicated an intimate nature between the two. Marisa nearly heaved at the prospect that the thing might've actually been his wife. She slowed to a stop as she leaned against a stray lamp post, resting her head against it's cool hard exterior.

"Hah…Gods….what the hell…" she muttered.

She looked around her. In the rush of adrenaline as she ran away from the masked scientist, she neglected to survey her surroundings. How much time had passed, she wondered, since she was in a different area entirely of the port. Probably meant she was a good distance away from Dr. fucked-in-the-head along with his freaky doll, so there was that. Now, she found herself in an area filled with green grass, trees and bushes. A little far in the distance, she could see a giant fountain, and next to it were a statue of a gargoyle battling with an angel.

"I think I lost him." Marisa whispered to herself. She calmed herself down. She could feel her fear being cooled down drastically.

"I'll be prepared for him next time, and when that happens, I'll totally wreck him ze." She said with a cocky smile to herself, as a coping mechanism to keep her spirits up.

"I probably should get going." She pushed herself off the lamp post and picked up her broomstick. "I hope Noel is ok."

Hiding in the bushes however, a black slime skittered around the branches, stalking the black and white witch. It gazed upon her from the foliage, hunger emanating within its empty eye holes.

"Keheheheheh." It cackled as it slithered from the bushes to one of the trees, trailing the witch

silently. "Wh-t p-culiar sc-nt she h-s. N-t fr-m this w—rld. Feast Up-n h-r, I sha-l." It rambled. It hopped from tree to tree, making sure to stay out of the girl's eyesight.

As the witch walked, her nose scrunched up slightly. Her eyes began to travel around her warily. "What the hell?" She reluctantly sniffed the air around her, nearly gagging in the process. "Smells like burning sacks of shit and fish...with a hint of..."

The black slime then quickly leapt out of the nearest tree behind Marisa, wailing a high pitched scream. Orange bone like spikes started to pop out of its oozing body, all of which were pointed towards the witch.

The witch then turned around, holding up her Mini-Hakkero with one hand. "Seithr!" A large ray of blue light shot out of the center of the Mini-Hakkero, hitting directly at the center of the massive black sludge. It wailed a scream of pain as it writhed on the ground.

"Wh-t?! C-n't heal! It's Ma-ic! Sh- kn-ws Magic!" It howled as it tried valiantly to squirm away. Marisa fired another shot of light from her Mini-Hakkero, burning a hole within the black mass as it screamed again. Feeling a little bad, she stopped when she realized that it gave up trying to run away and was merely twitching on the ground as it babbled nonsense.

"What the hell is that?" Marisa asked as she looked at the black liquid mass writhing on the floor. Describing it wouldn't take much effort, as it was literally a black blob of ooze. What was peculiar about it was a little white mask swimming around a specific area of the blob, which she could only guess was its head.

"Huh. Looks like I just found what could possibly be the weirdest Pokémon ever." She said. One second later, she grinned maniacally as she got out and held up an ornate looking box with a lavender jewel encrusted on the top. "I want it." She said, her inner kleptomaniac surfacing. "Gotta catch them all, and all that jazz."

She snapped open the box with one hand, aiming at the black blob. A thin red line shot out of the box, hitting the black ooze.

"HEEE?!" It squealed with a mixture of surprise and terror. He could feel himself being pulled towards the box, almost as if each of his molecules were being ripped and compacted. Soon, his whole entire body started glow red, and in a flash, he was gone. The thin red line then evaporated back into the box as Marisa closed it.

"Neat."

"Stop!" A female voice cried out.

Marisa looked away from the box in her hand and saw someone on top of a tree branch. She had long black hair tied up in a long pony tail, and had on a red Chinese style dress that seemed to open up in the chest area, which again left little to the imagination.

"Do all girls in this world wear extremely suggestive clothing? Because, uh, I'm seeing a pattern here." Marisa said.

The woman hopped down from the branch and pointed a bo staff towards her in a threatening manner.

"Let him go!"

Marisa pulled the box away from the woman. "No way! I found it first."

"What you have there is not a _thing!"_ The woman retorted. "Please, let him go. I need him."

"Sure looks like it ze" Marisa said as she eyed the box with a questioning look. "Also, you know the rule. Finders keepers ze."

"What are you even going to do with him?!" The woman asked, her impatience growing by the second.

"I dunno" Marisa said with a shrug. "Looked kinda cute with the mask honestly, kinda like a shy guy, so I thought I could hang him on a drawer in a bottle somewhere to look at. Gonna need to work on the smell though…"

"Please!" The woman said pleadingly. Marisa was almost taken aback by the desperation in her eyes. "Please…give him to me. He's someone that means the world to me."

"You're kinda losing the sympathetic vibe with that stick pointing towards my throat. Just wanna let you know that."

"I'll give you anything you want." The lady offered, lowering the staff in her hands slightly. "Please, all I want is him. That's all I ever want in my life…"

"Hmm…" Marisa rubbed her chin as she pondered. "Anything huh?"

…

_Deep Within_

Darkness. That was all Arakune could register in his sense of sight. However, he grew to adapt in an environment devoid of light, so he had a pretty good vision within the dark.

"Wher- am I. Th-s is n-t wh-re I w-s. All black l-ke the bo-ndary. Wh-t is th-s pla-ce?"

When he tuned his eyesight well enough, he could barely make out the image of a clutter of items around him, ranging from books, to dusty tomes, jewelries, clothing of different styles, some weapons, and even some risqué magazines with girls on the cover scattered around. Arakune then started to piece it all together.

"AHH! In b-x. Stu-k ins-de box. Bre-k free! Need azure!"

Arakune started to thrash around, hoping to find any weak points to abuse, or maybe a small opening he could slither out of. No luck though. The box was shut off tight without any openings, and the box was obviously reinforced by some sort of magic, since he couldn't detect any sort of weak spot either. Suddenly he heard something in the darkness. From the sound of it, whatever it was slithered around, emitting a very squishy sound, not unlike how he usually moved.

The uncontrollable curious nature of his overtook him, as he started to move towards the sound.

"Who-s there?"

Out of the darkness, _it_ popped in front of his face (or mask), making him pull back in fear. The thing appeared to be a gelatinous blob, akin to a glistening bubble. It's jelly like body rippling as it cocked to one side, observing Arakune for itself. The upper tip began to conform into a shape of a face, reshaping its form into the face of a young girl with short hair.

It winked at him and started to giggle.

...

" _HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"_ The box began to start shaking violently, startling the witch.

"Something's happening to him!' The woman yelled. "Please let him go already!"

"Alright alright, fine! But first a trade."

Litchi quirked an eyebrow. "What do you want."

"Information." Marisa said as she tossed the box up and caught it. Litchi could still hear the horrid screams coming within the box. "Tell me where I can find the NOL headquarters."

"The NOL?" Litchi cocked her head to the side. "What could you possibly want from them?"

"Aren't you asking too many questions for someone who is 'so desperate for the man of her life?'"

Marisa said as she twirled the box on top of her index finger.

The doctor glared at her for a second before pointing towards something up in the sky. "Up there."

Marisa looked up where the woman was pointing. Way in the distance, she spotted a spire on top of a large hill.

"Continue northwards and you should arrive there tomorrow. Assuming you're just walking there."

"Hmm…" Marisa considered the idea of just flying there, but quickly reconsidered, as that would probably bring way too much attention to her, and considering she was just running away from someone not too long ago, it would be quite counter productive.

"Well, a deal's a deal." Marisa opened up the box in her hand. As the lid was lifted, a bright white ray of energy shot outwards towards the ground, summoning the black blob. Arakune layed sprawled on the floor, barely moving.

"Hrk….hfghh...blehh"

"Roy!" Litchi cried as she quickly ran to the monster's side. She tenderly caressed the white mask and said, "Oh Roy! Thank goodness you're alright."

"Wh- Who are…." The black monster sputtered.

"Shh. It's alright Roy." Litchi whispered as she touched her forehead against the white mask. "It's all going to be ok from here on." Litchi turned around.

"Thank you, miss- huh?" Litchi was surprised to find that the witch disappeared.

…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Added a little reference to my favorite story in this site. Read Imperfect Metamorphosis if you guys havent. It's fucking godlike.


	14. Rising Star

 

 

 

 

"Man oh man ze" Marisa said as she slowed to a walk in front of the massive entrance of the Grand NOL headquarters she heard about. "Finally arrived."

She paused as she took in the entire construct; analysing the layout of the building, taking note of the details of the building, and trying to find any weak points.

"Woooo boy, this place is huge." She said before putting a finger to her chin in thought. "Now, what is the best way to infiltrate an obviously evil castle? Hmm…"

Her eyes scanned over the building once more, until they focused solely on the large ornate metal doors. She could always just walk in through the front doors, she thought.

Then again…

…

"YAHOO!" Marisa bellowed on her broom as she crashed through a glass window. She flipped through the shattered painted glass and landed inside the cathedral in a dramatic pose.

"But where's the fun in that?" She said as she dusted off her attire. "Now let's see… what do we have here?" She then inspected the entire room, which appeared to be a largely decorated Cathedral. One that once looked pristine and elegant, with golden ornaments such as large hanging lights, aristocratic blue banners with the military insignia hanging above the ceilings, and bright yellow holograms gracing the roof. But something was wrong.

"Wow."

Large chunks of the balcony she stood on were shattered and missing. Looking down from her spot, she noticed that the lower elevations weren't looking much better, as the banners that littered the base were nothing but mere tatters, the pillars that held up the place were reduced to rubble, and multiple craters decorated the marble floors. She sniffed the air and noticed the stench of blood.

A battle took place here, and a gruesome one at that. Two fearsome titans clashed at this specific site, and by the looks of things, the fight did not take place too long ago.

"Jeez…" She muttered as she scratched the back of her head. "What in the world happened?" She then jumped off the upper part of the balcony, and neatly landed on the medium levels of the cathedral, where the heart of the battle seemed to have taken place. It was then she noticed something. To the untrained eye, the signs would've been invisible. Hell, even to a veteran Magician, this would be unnoticeable. But she was trained by the best of the best in her field, and was strictly taught and well read in all subjects of the arcane. Thus she was able to notice the trails of seithr that littered the room. It was not seen by the visible spectrum, but it was there alright. She could feel it fluttering around the room, and it wasn't the normal variant of seithr that she sensed throughout this world. No, the seithr that floated around the room was one that was directly expelled from the Boundary itself.

"That's odd…" she muttered to herself. This was the exact seithr residue that was responsible for the destruction of Gensokyo. A connection like this was too strong to ignore. She glanced up a set of stairs where the seithr seemed to trail to. The person likely responsible for the seithr must have ascended up the tower, she told herself.

Just as she was about to move to the staircase, she detected a slight movement in the lower levels of the cathedral. She peered over the distance, past the balcony, and noticed the sight of a frighteningly familiar magenta cloak moving into the shadows.

"Freaky mask guy?" She whispered.

Just then, the figure turned around, and from the shadows, she could see two glowing irises turning to her location.

"Crap." she silently yelped, and ducked underneath one of the fallen pillars on the balcony.

Relius quickly glanced around the large open room before turning back. He had to hurry and prepare the next phase of his plan. From what he knew about the timelines, if the continuum shift were to go along as it has been, _he_ would show up soon.

" _The Major will be here soon."_ Marisa heard him say as he disappeared into the darkness.

Marisa stayed hidden behind the fallen pillar for a couple more minutes, until she was sure that the puppeteer was gone. She tentatively peered her head over the marble stone to see that he was gone, most likely already down in the lower levels of the tower.

"That bastard most likely knows what's going on here." Marisa whispered. She was about to leap forward down from the balcony, when suddenly she heard the entire upper part of the tower starting to shake.

"Ah damn…"

A choice was to be made here. Should she **ascend to the top of the tower** , towards the trail of seithr? Or should she stay and **investigate** the premises? There might not be time to do both, so one must take priority.

"Hmmm…" Marisa hummed as she put a finger to her chin, pondering the two choices.

"What to do…"

**Ascend to the top of the Tower**

**Investigate**

…

..

.

"Alright." Marisa said as she eyed the staircase behind her. "Might as well follow the trail." she told herself. If anything, even if the trail ended up being cold, she could always head back down and investigate later on. With that planned out, she dropped her broomstick until it hovered above the ground like a skateboard. She hopped onto the stick with both feet, masterfully balancing herself onto her broom and taking off up the set of stairs.

A few minutes later, as the witch was already far ahead up the tower, the sound of boots clicking on the marble floor could be heard. From the shadows of the entrance to the Cathedral, a blue boot with a yellow cross design running down the middle could be seen walking into the light. With it came a sudden chill that shrouded the entire area.

Up in the higher levels of the NOL headquarters, the witch shivered. ' _Why did it suddenly turn cold?_ ' she wondered to herself, but instantly told herself to ignore it. The trail of seithr was becoming stronger and stronger, indicating that the person responsible didn't pass through too long ago.

While ascending up the steps, a sudden heavy feeling pounded in her chest. She felt like a lost and confused girl haphazardly choosing a random route in a heavy forest. Not knowing what's beyond her path, and not knowing if she chose the right one. It was a dangerous sensation; not so much a gut feeling, but more of an observation. Insight rather than instinct. Something was definitely going on in this universe, as Marisa could feel a wave of distortion in the space time continuum every time she took a breath. Suddenly, a loud series of booms and thuds bombarded the top part of the tower, followed by a deafening explosion.

"Whoa!" Marisa cried as she nearly lost balance on her broomstick. The ceiling above the staircase started to quake, and a few of its contents shook free from its foundations, raining down dust onto her head as she flew up the set of stairs.

"Whoa, whoa, what the hell?"

She soon saw light shining up ahead of the set of stairs. When she passed through, she forced her broomstick to a stop as she realized that she reached the outside of the tower, with the stairs placed on the side. Looking from the railing, she took notice about the height elevation of her position. From her point of view, she could see the entire city of Kagutsuchi drawn out across the landscape, stretching into the horizon up to the line in the orange cloudy sky. She sighed.

"I wonder how everyone is doing." She whispered into the winter breeze.

Her mind started to drift to from person to person. She thought about Noel and how she was doing without her. Marisa hoped that the girl was doing fine. If anything, she's away from the freaky puppeteer's grasp, so that was a plus. She shuddered to imagine what in the world such a twisted bastard could do to such a sweet, albeit dorky, girl like Noel. She then began to wonder where all her friends were. She couldn't remember much, but she remembered drowning deep within the boundary, watching her friends slip away from her vision. Then the next second, she recalled herself free falling from the sky and crashing into the ground, which might not seem like the most favorable position to be in, but it was a hell of alot better then being stuck within the sea of seithr. Her grip on her broomstick tightened when she thought of the possibility that her friends might not have been so lucky. But if she miraculously escaped, then it was only logical that her friends managed to have found a way out too, right? After all, she hardly remembered doing something more elaborate than flailing about in place, yet here she was. So her friends must be alright...right?

"What am I saying?" she said, staunching the tremors within her throat.

She shook her head and gave her cheeks a light slap. "Come on now, Marisa."

Of course her friends were alright. They had to be, she told herself. She promised herself as she banished the doubts from her head. She made sure that she would never allow herself to sink into that dark and weak state of mind ever again.

"Wait." She halted her steps. Something wasn't right.

For her to experience this level of doubt _again_ seemed pretty unnatural to her. It was as if someone were coercing these feelings into her, like some entity was intervening at that point and altering her mindset as though it were a phenomena. It might seem far fetched to anyone else, but she knew better.

She held her chin as she continued to ponder these thoughts while slowly walking on the set of stairs that hung on the side of the tower. While she had heard of this type of power before, it was something that was well above her pay grade. Even her beloved mentor, who was the person who taught her about the concept in the first place, might have trouble emulating this type of power. A power that might even transcend the realm of Magic.

"Phenomena Intervention…" she said quietly. "The power of a God…" she scratched the back of her head and let out an exasperated sigh. "Ahh man, da ze~. Just what am I getting myself into?" She said as she lazily lolled her head to the right, looking at the sky. "Wait." Then a thought came to her.

"Why am I using the stairs?"

She quickly climbed on top of the railing, and allowed herself to fall off the side of the tower, only to be seen blitzing up the side of the cathedral on her broomstick. As she was ascending, she heard several more booms echoing from the top, explosions that rang loud and slightly familiar to her ears. She heard these types of explosions before, when she saw those hollow figures combust into bloody showers in the forest outside the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

_Could it be…?_

Just then, she could hear the sound of a familiar someone screaming at the top of the tower. The voice was faint, but it was definitely there.

" _You hurt big sis!"_

Marisa shook as she increased the speed of her broomstick. She let out a relieved sigh, and allowed the biggest grin to crawl onto her face. Flan was safe. And judging from what she said, her sister was probably up there too, albeit hurt. That must mean more of her friends must've gotten out of the boundary too.

Just then, a large red explosion blared up from the top of the tower, where the mage witnessed the crimson flames light up the sky in a devastating fashion. The detonation shook the entire cathedral to its very foundations. When Marisa looked up, she noticed a few debris fragments falling towards her. She got off her broom and free fell in the air, twirling the stick in her hand so that the bristles were at the top. She got out her mini-Hakkero with her other hand and placed it within the hairs of the broom. When that was done, she placed herself back onto the stick as she balanced her foot on the handle, riding on the broom like a surfboard. White light shot out from her Hakkero, propelling her through the air at a faster rate than she was previously flying at. Surfing through the air, she deftly weaved her broom away from the falling rubble, flying through the gaps between the concrete.

When she finally got to the top, she hopped off her broomstick mid air and landed onto the flat top surface of the building. When she did, she heard someone groan to the side of her. When she looked towards the direction, she saw a green haired man getting up from the ground and running towards the opposite edge of the building she was standing on. From there, he growled and yelled out in an enraged cry, "Damn you, SHITTY VAMPIRES!"

Marisa followed the man's gaze, and saw two very familiar dots flying into the sunset. She couldn't help but crack a small grin. Seeing the Vampire sisters causing trouble somehow warmed her heart.

The spiky green haired man continued to mutter curses as he stomped onto the ground in frustration, easily breaking the concrete underneath his shoes.

"Curse those flea ridden, blood sucking, little parasites!" He said. "One is bad enough. Two just fucking sucks. But oh shit, why not add in another!"

"Um…excuse me?" Marisa inquired as she walked up to the man, who either seemed to not notice her presence, or was blatantly ignoring her.

"How dare they…" He seethed, as though his favorite toy was snatched away from him. "I was not finished with her yet!"

"Um."

"I'll show them…" The man whispered. "I'll cut that blue haired one into strips and bleed her dry in front of her stupid sister."

"Excuse me, guy?" Marisa tried again.

This time, the man held up one finger to her while keeping his gaze to the sun, silencing her. "Hold on."

He cleared his voice. "And then I'll kill that blonde rat after she's done leaking her eyes out, and after that, I'll drop both of their carcasses in front of that damn rabbit's feet. That'll show her what happens to people she sends to fuck with me!"

One of the witch's brows rose. "Hey buddy."

He turned around and looked at her with wide yellow eyes. **"Can't you see I'm in the middle of something?!"**

The witch rolled her eyes as she held up both arms innocently.

The man pinched the bridge of his nose, closed his eyes, and silently counted from ten backwards. Once he reached zero, a green ghostly aura flared around him as his hair started to obey the laws of gravity, falling back into an appropriate proportion. He calmly walked to a hat that was lying on the ground a few feet away from him, picked it up, and dusted away the gravel that had gathered on its brim. He turned towards the witch once more, and gave a polite grin with closed eyes.

"You must excuse me. I must've gotten a little carried away there." He said with a slight chuckle.

"Oh where are my manners? I really should introduce myself." He placed his hat to his chest and bowed low in a practiced manner, as if he'd done the same motion thousands of times already. "I am Captain Hazama, of the Novus Orbis Librarium Intelligence Department." He looked up slightly and opened one of his eyes, scanning the girl. "And as such, I should probably be telling you that as of now, you are trespassing on a highly restricted area. May I ask your name?"

Marisa grinned and removed her giant hat from her head, mimicking the man in front of her and placing it against her chest and winked.

"Marisa Kirisame; top of the line problem solver, S class Youkai Exterminator, and professional ass kicker, at your service." She said as she finished off with her own bow.

The two straightened their backs and placed both their respective headwears back into place at the same time; Hazama wearing an amused smile while Marisa had on a cheeky grin.

"I like your style, kid."

"Well y'know..." She said as she rubbed her nose. "It comes naturally, ze."

"Bless you." Hazama said, confusing the verbal tic for a sneeze, but was interrupted upon an incessant command whispering inside his skull. "Alright alright, I should atleast try to act my rank, shouldn't I?"

To this, the magician shrugged. "Wouldn't be my style. But hey, I don't really get paid nowadays ze."

"Oh believe me, they don't pay me enough for the things I have to deal wi-" his speech was halted for some strange reason, before he cleared his throat and recomposed himself. "Would you mind telling me what you are doing in this heavily restricted area?"

"Well...through some unfortunate circumstances, I pretty much had no choice but to come to this place. " Marisa started as she clasped both of her hands behind her head. "And after going through a not so elaborate set of scenarios, I was kind of led here."

"Is that so?"

"Yep. Speaking of problems though…" Marisa said as she pointed towards the man. "Has your friend calmed down yet?"

Hazama's eyes widened in shock for a second before closing again. An abashed grin sprawled onto his face. He looked towards his right, as if there was a person behind him. "Looks like you've been discovered, Terumi."

His head turned to the left as his eyelids opened, revealing the glowing yellow irises that slithered underneath. "Well, maybe she wouldn't have noticed if you'd have transitioned a little more subtly, you coy bastard!" He snarled.

He closed his eyes again, as his facial features relaxed. "Yes, yes. I should've been more mindful." He said whimsically before opening his eyes, a scowl appearing on his face. "Hmph."

He then eyed the magician. "Then that must make you one of the phenomenon that passed through the boundary."

Marisa laughed as she winked playfully. "Guess I'm not good at hiding my identity, myself." She waved gingerly and said, "Hi."

Terumi ignored the small greeting, instead focusing on the blonde's attire. "A sorcerer's attire…"

Marisa beamed. "You like it?" She said as she pulled the hem of her dress. "I kinda rocked the purple for a while. But I think the black and white color scheme worked out in the end, y'know?"

"So you have insight on sorcery then?"

"I dabble here and there."

"Even for a mere human?"

"Not 'mere'. Just…Ordinary." She gazed upwards towards the sun, seeing the Scarlet Sisters fly away into the horizon. "Looks like you got your ass handed to you pretty hard, huh?"

Terumi cringed at the magician's cheery attitude. He spat out some blood onto the floor before angrily saying, "Kid got a lucky shot."

"Uh huh." Marisa said as she shot him a condescending smirk, much to the man's frustration. "Looks like she got a couple of _lucky_ shots. Ain't that some bad luck?" She said as she eyed the multiple tears and burn marks on the man's black jacket. While the witch was teasing him, she clasped both hands behind her back and dropped a few small round pellets that fell behind her legs, hiding them away from green haired man's gaze. Once they reached the ground, Marisa magically willed them to move along the rubble, sneaking ever so closer to the man.

"Huh? What was that?" Terumi said as he held up one hand to his ear. "Oh I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you over the sound of all your friends being smelted!"

Marisa raised her eyebrow. "So you were behind all this. I knew your aura seemed familiar."

"YES!" He exclaimed in dramatic english, his mood improving drastically upon seeing the magician's declining mood. He clapped his hands and said, "Well good for you. As your reward, let me show you what is behind door number one!" He raised up one arm with a single finger pointed upwards, and the ground started to glow blue. Marisa's eyes widened in terror as she saw the massive cluster of familiar blue shards floating out of the ground. "Surprise! It's your friends! Why don't you guys say hello?" He said as he motioned the blue souls to swirl around the stunned blonde. She eyed the glowing blue souls that surrounded her with hesitation.

Terumi widened his grin upon seeing the inner turmoil within the girl. He prodded and prodded the magician, hoping to elicit some negative emotions from her for him to feast upon. Sorrow for the loss of her friends, maybe? Self loathing for the failure to save them? Hatred for him for taking them away in the first place, preferably. Anything would do, all to see her smug persona crash and burn in the flames of despair. The prospect made his mouth water slightly.

Yet when the girl raised her hat to reveal her face, he could feel his grin begin to fall as he felt no negative emotions coming from the girl. Marisa's eyes stared straight into his; her face somewhat neutral. There was no fear coming from the girl. No anger or hatred or sorrow. No promised despair. All he could feel from the blonde witch was strength flaring behind her eyes. Marisa shot him a cocky grin, as a subtle raised middle finger for his troubles.

"Making yourself comfortable there?" Marisa said as she pointed towards her head.

Terumi frowned, knowing that the girl had figured out the influence his Nox Nyctores had on her. "You must be one stone cold hearted bitch to smile while your dead friends swirl around you." He spat, hoping to atleast make a dent in her facade.

"Its not being heartless." Marisa said. "It's called being strong." She spread both arms to her sides, basking in the cluster of souls. "Getting sad will not bring them back, nor is getting angry gonna make me particularly any stronger. So if you think about it, letting it get to me will just make their deaths meaningless, and that simply will not do." She clutched her chest with her left hand. "I do not have the luxury to cry. It would be so easy too. But I can't, I have to stay strong for them." She looked over her shoulders towards the floating souls. "So how about it guys?" she said before turning back to Hazama, raising her right hand.

"Let's extend Gensokyo's salutation." she said as she snapped her fingers.

"What?!" Terumi hissed when he noticed a few silver pellets next to his feet starting to glow. The pellets exploded, sending an intense electric current that burned and bound Terumi in place. Marisa whistled a hearty tune, and from the edges of the tower came forth four Mini Hakkeros, all of which were released in secrecy when she was exchanging words with the green haired man. Marisa made a gun gesture with her fingers and pointed the tip of her index finger at the stunned Hazama.

The four magic furnaces positioned themselves around the man before blasting him with bright blue lasers from all sides and angles. Two were positioned so that the laser formed a cross, with Terumi burning at the center. Then the other two were placed so that the laser's trajectory formed an X. Afterwards, the four Hakkeros floated behind the witch as she pulled out her main Mini-Hakkero.

" **Love Sign: Non-Directional Lasers."**

The witch then shot Terumi with all five Mini-Hakkeros. The man stood in the bright blue fires, his entire outline black in contrast to the burning white flames of magic from the witch. After almost a good minute, the witch ceased her assault, leaving the man's body twitching upright before falling onto one knee.

"Huh, that one, uh, was supposed to leave you dead." She smirked with a shrug.

Terumi groaned; his body weak from having his soul burned away by the witch's sorcery.

_No, it's much worse than that._ That outfit design wasn't just for show. _This bitch knew pure Magic._

"Shut. Up." Terumi said as he sluggishly got up from his knees. As he fantasized about the multiple ways to snuff out the blonde's life in the most slow and painful way possible, it occurred to him how frustrated he was feeling at the moment. Like, extremely frustrated. In fact, the amount of frustration he was feeling made him feel even more frustrated. Just think about that for a second. For the entirety of the continuum shift, he felt in control. He knew what was underneath every rock, and he had contingencies for every single one of them should the need arise. And this one person; this cocky little witch, showed him that those days are over.

"My suit..." Hazama cried. "I'll make you scream!" Terumi snarled afterwards as he twirled two butterfly knives out of his coat. The area around started to glow green as he activated his Azure Grimoire.

Marisa stuck her tongue out and pulled her right eyelid tauntingly before she flipped backwards into the air, only to be caught by her broomstick from underneath.

"Might as well give up! Bad guys never win afterall."

Marisa was loving how angry the man was getting. She loved it alot. If anything, it's a good ease for the hatred that lied within her heart. She would never show it to him. She wouldn't give the slimy bastard the satisfaction. But more importantly, she suppressed these feelings for herself, and her friends. The mini-Hakkeros floating at her side started to spray a continuous stream of white hot lethal bullets at the man below. Terumi rolled out of the way of the bullets, ran underneath the Monolith's giant cocoon, and shot forth a green chain at the flying witch.

Marisa dodged the chain, but saw Hazama disappear in a flash afterwards. Every instinct in her body told her to turn around and erect a barrier with her hands, which she did. Dark green energy clashed with her light green barrier.

"Don't try to act so nonchalant! I can see straight through this weak-ass act." He grinned as he leered closer towards her barrier, peering straight into her golden eyes. "You _hate_ me, don't you?"

Marisa struggled to hold up her barrier.

"Admit it." Terumi hissed. "You're angry." He said as he pushed his blades against the barrier harder.

"You're depressed." And harder.

Marisa gritted her teeth.

"You're afraid!" He said before tearing apart the witch's magical barrier, pushing the girl off her broom and sending her falling from the sky. Terumi grabbed the magician's flailing arms with both hands and brought himself closer to her face.

"Afraid of these feelings." He said with a wicked smile. "Afraid of losing everyone." Oh how he wished he could see her eyes at that point. To bad they were hidden behind that ginormous hat of hers.

"What's wrong? You're only an ordinary human aren't you? You know, it's not healthy to bottle up all your emotions like that." He leered closer to the girl's ear. "I'll listen to your woes."

"I'll pass, thanks." Marisa said underneath her hat before snapping her fingers.

A quiet warning echoed inside Terumi's head, and he was able to let go of the girl's arms before a stray Hakkero managed to tag him with a deadly blue beam. The witch's broomstick flew past him and floated next to the blonde girl, who managed to grab it by the handle. Terumi grinned when the girl raised the brim of her hat to show an ever increasing scowl growing across her face. She's breaking.

Marisa pulled herself up so that she was standing on top of her broom. She increased the speed of her broomstick and sailed further away from Terumi into the orange clouds, while shooting a cluster of multi colored bullets and star shaped blasts behind her. Terumi shot a chain at the magician's direction and propelled himself like a catapult towards her at roughly the same speed she was travelling at. A crazed look was in his eyes as he pursued. As he flew, he sliced a couple of mini Hakkeros out of the sky with his knives, dodging the lasers that would occasionally shoot of their centers.

" _Hey Mister Terumi?"_ Terumi could hear Hazama ask within his skull. _"You seem unnaturally...uh, motivated right now."_ Oh how he still had ways to go. "Its a matter of pride." He said as he deflected a bullet with his knife, redirecting the shot to hit a stray Hakkero. This bitch was hiding a goldmine from him. He'll show her, and that damn vampire, and that oh so delightful shrine maiden just how cruel reality can be. The fact that she was making such an effort to hide what was inside only made the thrill of the hunt more entertaining.

"And besides, Hazama. You and I both know that there's no egg that we can't crack."

He shot a chain upwards, and flew towards a higher elevation. He got out both knives and slashed downwards, creating a large X shaped wave of green energy that sliced through the clouds.

Marisa looked around.

"Oh...damn." She exclaimed as she tried to take evasive actions.

But the attack was too large to dodge appropriately. A green streak of energy made contact with a part of the broom's bristles, igniting it on fire. Marisa soon lost control of the broomstick, as it was sent tumbling down. She steered the broom as best as she could towards the top of the ivory cathedral. She crashed. Quite badly too.

"Ow." She tried to get up, but found that every time she tried to move her right leg, it would send an intense stinging sensation up her body. Terumi zipped across the sky to where the Magician was crawling on the floor. He saw her reaching for the broomstick that was lying a couple of inches away from her.

"You're still trying to fight? Useless." Terumi said as he sauntered over to the broomstick and snapped it under heel of his shoe. He bent over closer to the girl and screamed, "Useless useless!" He then raised his leg and sent the girl tumbling across the roof.

Marisa heaved in pain as she tried to stop her body's momentum by using her gloved hand as an anchor across the ground. Despite her leg's protest, she stood up and got out her Mini-Hakkero. But before she had a chance to aim…

"Ahhh...damn it." She groaned in frustration when she felt cold hard chains constricting all of her lower body. She looked down and saw a black portal underneath her feet, with green chains coming out from the dark void. The chains travelled up her body and wrapped itself around her neck and the arm holding up the magic catalyst. She kept her arms pointing towards the man's general direction. It was a struggle, however, as the chains tightened and tightened to the point that she could feel her entire skeletal structure starting to crack.

"It's useless to struggle, you stupid stupid girl." Terumi laughed. "Ready to die?"

"B-basta-" Her insult was snuffed out by a cry of pain when she felt her shoulder blades break under the pressure of his chains.

"Hehehe, that's right. Get angry. You hate my guts, don't you? That's alright. That's more than alright. Let's look at the situation you're in, shall we?" He started counting off his fingers. "Thousands and thousands of your friends back at home die every second I'm alive, your world is a complete mess and only getting worse. Oh and uh, frankly, you guys are weak. Your vampire friend wasn't able to stop me. The small pipsqueak wasn't able to stop me. And poor Reimu..."

Marisa shook upon hearing the name.

"Yeah...yeah, that's right. She probably took it the worst. Poor girl is probably close to death now." Terumi looked over to the witch. He fully expected to hear her scream with rage, cursing his name and promising death upon his soul for the atrocities commited to her dear friend's life. But she was being oddly silent. "Well?! Aren't you going to say anything? Has your intellect dropped to the point you can't form simple sentences?" The girl's hat cast a shadow over her eyes, hiding whatever emotions the girl had from him, which was extremely aggravating to him.

"Still won't talk, huh?" He shrugged. "It doesn't matter I guess. Looks like your spirit is crushed, anyways. Guess that's that, then." An ominous cluster of black holes appeared behind his body with a snap of his fingers. But Marisa didn't care. She didn't acknowledge her surroundings at that point. For her, everything was silent. Nothing existed but herself and her thoughts. But more importantly her memories.

…

_Back then_

…

_Deep within the Forest Of Magic, the ordinary magician wept. Secluded in her home, she mourned and despaired._

" _Dead...they're all dead…" The blonde muttered for the fiftieth time while cradled in a fetal position on the rug, dressed only in her crinkled messy white dress shirt and black skirt. Or maybe it was the fifty first? Mima might've lost count, quite honestly. She couldn't stand-or well...float, at the sight of her beloved disciple in such a sorry state._

" _Honey? Dear please, it's been nearly a week…" The ghost told the young girl gently._

" _No...no no no…" Marisa continued to sob. "It'll never end. Everyone is dying. More and more are..." She curled up even more as she sobbed into her sleeves. "Just like Rinnosuke."_

_Mima sighed. Of course it was natural for her to mourn for the loss of the person who's cared for her before being taken under her wing. The man was, for all intents and purposes, the closest thing to a father figure she had, since her bastard of a dad practically abandoned the poor girl on the half youkai's doorsteps. She sympathized with the deceased man._

" _He would not have wanted you to waste away like this." Mima gently floated over to the crying girl's position, and carefully combed her ghostly fingers through her beloved protege's golden locks. "Marisa dear, please look at me?"_

_Marisa fervently shook her head against her sleeves. "No. Everywhere I look, people are leaving me. If I look at you, you'll only be gone."_

_Mima could slowly feel her near non-existent heart breaking in two at the girl's words. "I will never leave you. Not ever."_

" _Liar. You will leave like all the rest. Just like...all the-" Marisa's breath hitched as she pulled her head closer to her chest, desperately evading her eyes away from her master as though the mere sight of her was the touch of the leper._

" _NO! I don't want that!" She cried hysterically. "Master! Please don't leave me! Not you too!"_

_Mima didn't know what she could do. She, who was quite possibly the most wise and insightful soul in all of Gensokyo, was at a loss for words. She, who could easily talk a person into committing suicide through pure dialect alone, was unable to grant the girl she loved any comfort in her time of need. For the first time in her entire existence, Mima felt helpless. Her hand slowly traveled to the blonde's shoulder, but the moment her fingers made contact, Marisa jolted back and whimpered. The ghost's hand immediately retracted, a hurt expression was apparent on her face. It was clear to her that her presence was only causing the girl discomfort. Clearly, it was not her role to lift Marisa's spirit. It was a hard prospect to swallow, but it was something she had to accept. Mima blew a kiss into her fingers and tapped the area near where the girl was laying on. She got up and silently headed outside of the witch's abode and closed the door. When she looked up into the sky, she cringed upon looking up at the sight of the contrasting colors, with the bloody red upper atmosphere and the billions of blue soul clusters swimming through the clouds._

_It was a cold and lightless day, with black clouds towering over the once tranquil lands. The only source of light offered to the plains of Gensokyo were the oceans of bright souls of its denizens flickering in the dark daytime sky._

_The grand magistrate of evil sighed and calmly addressed the individual hiding behind a nearby tree._

" _Reveal yourself, Daughter of Makai."_

_A rustle of the dead and decaying leaves confirmed the suspicion. From the shriveled foliage, a magician stepped forth into the crimson daylight; the one and only Seven Colored Puppeteer, Alice Margatroid. "A-as expected of Madam Mima. Seems it was futile to try to hide my presence."_

" _Indeed it was." Mima said as she floated towards Alice, who instinctively backed up a few steps. Mima didn't mind, as she had no doubts the girl held some memories of their first meeting so many years ago in Makai. "Do not fret though, your appearance was obvious and might I say, necessary." The doll maker averted her eyes towards the ground. Mima lifted the blonde's chin with her index finger, forcing the girl's gaze into her own. "We both know why you're here. Do not even think of lying about heading towards your own house. You've been sneaking by and staying behind that tree for the past few days now."_

_Alice's eyes travelled to the house behind the ghost._

" _I was worried."_

" _Then why didn't you come by and comfort her?"_

_The Dollmaker was surprised that that was the reason for the Spirit's vexation. "I wanted to respect her space."_

" _Fool. That girl needs you now more than ever." Mima's eyes narrowed. "You clearly do not know the power you hold."_

_Alice could do nothing but stare at the green haired ghost. Mima turned around and looked at the house. "That girl in there...is but a feeble and broken shell of her former self. Nothing like the young bright soul I took under my wing so many years ago. She has devolved into a pathetic child. A weak, pathetic child."_

_Alice felt a flare of anger at the spirit's words. "Hey! Don't you talk about her like tha-" She paused when she saw Mima's clenched fists starting to shake. The wind around the two magicians increased in strength, knocking up all the dead leaves from the ground as they danced around the two._

" _Do not delude yourself, Margatroid." Mima said with her back still facing Alice. "That girl crying in there? That little girl is indeed very_ _ **weak**_ _." She said with a noticeable edge in the last word. "But…" She then turned around. When she did, Alice was startled to see the Greatest Witch in Gensokyo's history, crying, right in front of her. "That little girl...is still my precious Marisa." Mima gently grabbed hold of the shorter girl's shoulders. "Please...you are the only one to turn to. I cannot give this task to Reimu, as she has her own problems to deal with." She pleaded to the Magician as she blinked away her tears. "Please do what I could not. Please give my little girl the strength she so desperately needs."_

_In that moment, a sudden heat flourished in her heart. Alice closed her eyes and gently rested her hand on top of the ghost's. It was then that Alice was filled with determination. "I got it." She told Mima._

_Marisa jumped at the sound of her front door being kicked open._

_**BGM: Rimelight** _

" _YOU DUMBASS!"_

_Marisa ceased her cries as she looked behind her, only to see a familiar blonde standing in the doorway. "A-Alice?"_

" _Look at you!" Alice said as she pointed a finger to the cowering Marisa. "You're a mess! Your clothes are dirty, and your hair is all unkept! Have you even taken a shower in the past five days?! Filthy!"_

" _Alice..."_

" _And what the-" Alice gasped when she saw how skinny the witch was. "Have you not eaten anything this past week?! Honestly! What kind of numbskull forgets to eat? Stupid idiot."_

_Alice walked forward as she scolded the other blonde._

" _And your house! Your place is completely disgusting! Now, you weren't exactly the tidiest one around, but you atleast had some standards!" Alice pointed towards a section of the room where piles of books littered the ground, along with some broken glass and a few old rotten mushrooms lying here and there. Marisa didn't look, however. Her tearful gaze was still glued to the oncoming Puppeteer._

" _You're here…" Marisa whispered as she slowly crawled towards her friend. "You're alright…"_

" _Unlike you! How can anyone live like this?" She said as she stomped across the room. "Did you think you can just lie here and slowly die to escape this incident?!" Alice hastened her steps. "Like hell I would allow that."_

" _Alic-" Marisa was cut off when Alice wrapped her arms around her body tightly._

" _If you did that...I don't think I would ever forgive you." Alice whispered into the other girl's ear. "You're never allowed to leave my side." She leaned back; her anger completely gone, replaced with a warm and loving smile. She unhooked her arms around the witch's back and cupped the crying face in front of her with both hands. "Just as how I will never leave yours." A fresh bundle of tears poured forth from the golden eyed blonde._

" _Really?" Marisa whispered. Alice wiped away the tears with her thumbs tenderly._

" _Really." Alice said with confidence._

_The once brash witch then buried her face into Alice's chest, silently muttering sobbed words of gratitude. "Thank you...thank you thank you…"_

_Alice held the girl's head close to her heart. "I will always be by your side." The dollmaker cooed. "Wherever there is Kirisame, there will always be Alice right beside her." Alice could feel the witch beneath her chin start to shake with even more tears. "But just as I have the strength to fight alongside you, I'm going to need you to have the strength to fight for everyone else."_

" _Huh?" Marisa hummed against the fabric of the puppeteer's clothes._

" _I need you to be strong, Marisa. Right now, Gensokyo is dying, and it needs your help. Right now, it needs the Ordinary Magician now more than ever. Not what you are currently…" She said as she pushed back the Witch so that she could look into her eyes once more. "But the Marisa that caught my attention so long ago." She traced her fingers across the witch's cheeks. "The Marisa that was always brash and headstrong, yet equally bright and pure. The Marisa that would stare right into the heart of the darkness and would somehow always find a joke to crack. The Marisa that would always fight for the sake of others. That is the Marisa I need right now. So please…" Alice went to hold Marisa's hand, interlacing their fingers together. "Please be strong for everyone. Please be strong for me." She leaned in closer towards the Witch's face so that their foreheads were connected. "And in return, I will be strong for you."_

_Even with the tears still falling freely from her face, Marisa nodded fervently._

" _I promise."_

…

"What are you doing?" Terumi asked in confusion. "Why are you...smiling?"

He gawked at the witch, who raised her hat to reveal herself grinning defiantly. Contrasting to that however, were lines of tears travelling down the separate sides of her face. She started to laugh.

"I just think it's funny...how cocky you seem to be getting, to think that I'm going to give up. Reimu must've been having an off day if she lost to an idiot like you." Her laugh was momentarily cut off when the chains tightened around her neck. She grinned through the pain and laughed regardless. "I will never give up this fight, so don't expect me to just sit down and cry at my losses." She lifted her arm holding the Mini-Hakkero, fighting against the chains while doing so. "If you put me down, I'll only get back stronger. If you break my right hand, I'll only punch your face with my left." She fully extended her arm towards the speechless man, her fingers still cradling the Mini-Hakkero. "So just know...that this chapter isn't done yet ze!"

Terumi's eyes widened in anger, his vision starting to go red. "We'll see about that! Go Ouroboros!" He raised his right arm to his hat, and placed his left in his pockets.

" **Unholy Wrath Of The Basilisk!"**

**BGM: Powered by Maxwell's Demon (WAVE)**

The black portals behind him started to shoot out a continuous stream of black and green ethereal snakes, all travelling past Terumi and homing in on the Witch. With newfound strength and determination, Marisa tore her arm free from the binding green chains, and held her Mini-Hakkero alongside her other hand, channeling its mana with both palms. Meanwhile, the magic catalyst started to gather a large cluster of bright energy near its center. She went over the simple steps for the spell inside her head.

_Concentrate your mind._

"Just watch, Alice. I'll be strong for you and everyone until the end." She whispered under her breath.

_Mutter the spell to the Mini-Hakkero tenderly._

" **Magicannon…"**

Multi colored lightning started to leak from the center of the Mini-Hakkero.

_Aim it at someone you don't like._

As Marisa chanted; she stared straight through the furious torrent of snakes flying at her, and focused her sight onto her enemy. Not only her enemy, but Reimu's and Remilia's as well. The enemy of Gensokyo.

_Now unleash the annihilating power of love!_

" _ **FINAL SPAAAAAAAAARK!"**_

A bright and multi-colored beam of pure magical energy shot forth from the Mini-Hakkero. A beam so large that it's size alone eclipsed the entire monolith standing next to her in height. The mere activation of the spell caused the entire northern section of Kagutsuchi to shake under its might. The bright laser clashed against the wave of phantom snakes, summoning up a kinetic shock wave in the middle of the collision of energy.

"You _bitch_!" Terumi hissed, to which Marisa grinned maniacally in response.

Unbeknownst to both of them, a body in red clothing was pushed across the floor from the two attacks, and was slammed into the side of the large monolith. The man groaned in pain as he struggled to open his eyes.

"What?!" Ragna's eyes shot open to see a large magical laser of multiple colors burning against a swarm of continuously spawning green snakes.

"What the hell is that?!" Ragna cried.

"What the hell is this?!" Terumi cried.

Slowly, but surely, the tremendous beam of light was getting closer to him, despite his attack pushing against it.

"This is the power _of love!"_ With the last of her strength, she imbued the Final Spark with all of her willpower. The beam grew in size and started to obliterate all the snakes against its way, burning a clear path towards the Intelligence Officer. Terumi mustered up all the power he had in his body and siphoned it into his Nox to strengthen his drive, all for the sole purpose of delaying the Final Spark from reaching his person.

"Shit!" He cursed as he rolled to the side in a desperate attempt to dodge the incoming attack. Once he did, the black portal behind him ceased it's barrage and was instantly obliterated by the magic beam. Terumi cried in agony as his back seared from the mere proximity of the Final Spark. The laser burned through the air, rippling past the clouds and into the horizon.

…

"Big sis…" Remilia heard her little sister say as they both flew through the sky with an unconscious Reimu in tow. She raised her head to see her little sister pointing at something from the cathedral. Perplexed, Remilia turned around and gasped when she saw a large laser shooting from the top of the tower. When the thick laser made contact with a cluster of mountains in the distance, everything visible was washed in a wave of light. A few seconds later, the light subsided, and was replaced with the sight of a giant mushroom cloud, followed by a large shockwave that ripped through the sky from the area of impact, pushing back the vampire sisters slightly.

"Sister?" Flandre asked. "Was that…?"

Remilia nodded. "I believe so."

…

"You have got to be kidding me." Terumi muttered when he saw a large sector of land covered with multiple mountains reduced to nothing but a gigantic crater spanning around a couple thousand miles wide, with the surface entirely made of glass. He turned around and looked at the witch with bewilderment. Marisa's arms struggled to keep themselves upright, but eventually fell to her side. All of her muscles refused to budge, due to exerting all energy in her body into her Mini-Hakkero.

"Shit…" She cursed under her breath before the chains around her neck started to constrict and lift her up by the throat. Her arms clutched at the chains in vain hopes of loosening them while her feet thrashed and kicked around desperately in the air.

**BGM: Blazblue Re:Stung**

Terumi cackled weakly as he sluggishly walked closer to the dangling magician. "You…" He said as he pointed towards her. "You have been the biggest thorn in my ass out of all your friends so far." He willed his Ouroboros to tighten its strangle around the blonde's throat in spite. "Congratulations." He said sarcastically. "Still, even after all that big talk, you still lost. Any last words before we end our little ga-" He was cut off when Marisa spat into his eye from above, making him reel back in surprise and disgust.

"Fuck!" He cursed.

"Here? Right now? For free? Just kidding. It would hardly be appropriate as I'm kinda playing for the other team, if you know what I mean." She wiggled her brows. "And I'm not exactly talking about my world and your-ACK!" She said before she got choked off from the chains. Despite this, she still drew words. "Didn't I tell you...that bad guys never win?" She said as she flashed a cocky grin. "If it will not be me that puts you down, it will be someone else. Whether it be my friends or someone else from this world."

Ragna, who was blinded and deafened by the Final Spark, laid his back against the black monolith. When his vision finally returned and the ringing ceased within his ears, he saw Terumi lifting up the girl by the neck with his chains.

"T-Terumi, you basta-" He tried to run at the man, but found that his legs still refused move. The crippling darkness from his last battle still left it's mark. "Damn!"

All he could do was watch from the sidelines, too weak to get up and intervene.

The blonde's defiant grin never left her face however. "And….I wasn't kidding about...never giving up. Whether it be in this life, or the next, or the one after the next, or damn, even after I'm dead, I will still find a way to pull you down into hell with me. Because bastards like you deserves to burn for all eternity."

Slowly, but with burning resolution fueling her strength, she lifted her right hand and curled all of her fingers into a fist, save for one particular digit. "So do your worst! Because you're going to be seeing this face fuck your bitch ass up for a long time coming!" With one last final breath of air into her lungs, she yelled out a defiant and strong, "ZE!"

Terumi's expression shifted from an assortment of emotions. Surprise was first. Then was shifted to rage. However, he then oddly felt a surge of amusement for a moment, but thinking about it for a second, he was positive that was just Hazama's feeling for the girl's sheer bravado. He laughed.

"Heh...Go out swinging, huh? Damn you're annoying. Let's fix that."

The chain around the girl's neck then violently jerked upwards in one quick motion.

…

_**Marisa Stories** _

_**One of the many possibilities...of the Continuum Shift.** _

…

_**..** _

_**.** _

Marisa: _**Yo Doc! Offer me some assistance, ze!**_

In front of you, the giant red curtains starts to divide and move to the side, revealing a dark room. From the darkness, a sudden ray of light shoots down in the middle of the room. In the middle of the light was a woman with pink hair, cat ears, wearing a scientist's coat with red capri pants.

Kokonoe: "Greetings lost children! I am Professor Kokonoe, genius scientist and ruler of the Sector Seven laboratory."

She coughed into her sleeves, quickly recomposing herself.

Kokonoe: "Ok, we aren't really in the lab at the moment. This place is technically a room somewhere hidden deep within the boundary. Basically, this place is a mysterious room, where all sorts of stuff can happen. You can sort of think of this place as...a paradise to those poor sad souls that couldn't make it to their desired ending. A sort of Avalon, if you will.."

An annoyed scowl formed on her face.

Kokonoe: "If you're one of those readers who are like, 'Oh I don't care about this segment', or 'I just want to get to the next character arc'. Sorry kiddo's, you're probably going to have to wait for another month or two..." A darkened expression suddenly developed on her face. "Or eight...Honestly it's getting hard to get a consistent timeframe. Well whatever. Point is, next arc is planned for later. Right now though…"

She cleared her throat.

Kokonoe: "Lost child of the day. You may enter."

The room starts to brighten up, revealing the same messy papers scattered on the floor along with a weird glowing liquid tank in the background. Still a mess from last time. Lazy bitch. The sound of a mechanical door opening echoes throughout the room, and from the shadows, stepped forth a blonde girl in a black and white attire. She held her head in pain as she looked around in a daze.

Kokonoe: "Hey kid. Welcome to the program."

Marisa: "Uh huh…"

Kokonoe: "Now let's see here…" She said as she got out a notebook. "It seems that instead of taking things slowly, you took your problems head on."

Marisa: "Is that so…"

Kokonoe: "You need to be more careful, kid. You might afford the luxury of being brash back in your world, where you were comfortable. But this is unknown territory you're treading on. One slight mistake could cost you your life."

Marisa wasn't even looking at the scientist. Her eyes were unfocused and staring at nothing.

Kokonoe: "Hey! You listening? We're never gonna leave here, unless you learn about your problems."

Marisa: "What...just happened?"

The scientist could only scratch her cheek.

Kokonoe: "Well...you got a bad ending."

Marisa: "Well, I know that. But I mean what happened afterwa-"

Kokonoe: "You do? That's...odd."

Marisa: "How so?"

Kokonoe: "Uh, normal humans simply do not have the insight of the universe to see multiple possibilities."

Marisa: "Now that you mention it, ever since I started climbing up those steps, I felt like I was going through a forked road, and picking a route."

Kokonoe: "Most people wouldn't feel anything. Only Observers and beings that operate outside of Logic can grasp such insight."

Marisa: "Oh! That's it?"

Kokonoe: "What do ya mean, 'that's it?'"

Marisa: "Witch's hat, magic attire, floating broomstick."

She said as she pointed towards each respective items.

Marisa: "I'm a magician, ze. Magicians are inherently gifted with massive insight about the cosmos, since we focus our studies on the secrets of the universe. Especially if one was born a Magician."

Kokonoe: "But you're a human. A pretty normal one, at that. The ability to sense the shifts would need a substantial amount of insight that even most magicians don't have."

To this, the blonde could only shrug.

Marisa: "It's true that I was not born outside of logic like other Youkai Magicians." She said as she looked down towards her opened hand. "I'm a simple human. And it's not like humans absolutely cannot utilize magic, but they would have to be extremely gifted in sorcery from birth. I'm probably the most average human you can possibly find."

Marisa: "I'm not particularly strong, and I have absolutely no potential or talent when it comes to Magic. All I have is my craft, my Master's teachings, my passion, and a whole lifetime of constant training and studying."

Kokonoe: "Yet you have gained knowledge few can ever hope to attain. This knowledge will heavily affect the continuum shift, you know."

Marisa looked up and shot the pinkette her signature cocky grin.

Kokonoe: "You may be human. But you certainly aren't ordinary."

Marisa: "Heh. Ordinary Magician. Extraordinary human."

Kokonoe: "But human nonetheless. And what defines a human are their limitations. Know them and you should be good from here on."

Marisa: "And they are?"

Kokonoe: "You're too reckless. Slow down and plans things out, and use that intelligent brain of yours. You're not gonna gain anything by just muscling through this incident."

Marisa: "Right right…."

The sound of mechanical locks releasing rang through the air.

Kokonoe: "Then you're free to go."

Marisa: "Alright! Thanks doc."

Before the blonde managed to step out of the room, the pink haired beastkin asked a question.

Kokonoe: "Hey. You never did tell me what was bugging you in the beginning."

Marisa: "Oh. It was probably nothing. I just thought I heard someone call out my name at the end there. There was someone else there, but I just can't seem to remember..."

Kokonoe: "Hmm…"

With that, the Magician stepped out of the door, and everything was developed into a sea of white light.

…

..

.

" _Hey."_

_Marisa heard as she stirred in her sleep._

" _Hmm?" The blonde witch hummed as she repositioned her head on the person's lap she was laying upon._

" _It's time to get up." The familiar voice said softly to her._

" _Don't wanna." She wanted to say. Her eyes shifted under her eyelids, and from the slight crack, she saw a familiar blonde figure looking down at her. Through her hazy vision, she saw that the figure was wearing an outfit that was mixed with blue and white with a splotch of red in the center of the figure's chest. The exact details of the outfit were lost on her, but she was simply too tired to focus. "Too tired."_

" _Please get up." The voice said urgently. "Please…"_

_Marisa's eyelids closed, and she muttered a tired, "Five more minutes."_

" _Marisa." The blonde pleaded. "Please wake up. For me."_

_At this, Marisa finally shot her eyes open_ , and looked up from her position on the girl's lap. Around her was a grassy plain surrounded by trees that swayed with the cool winter breeze and the tune of the chirping birds. Above her, under the crystal clear blue skies, she saw Noel's worried emerald eyes looking back down at her, her gloved hands softly placed on her cheeks as she gently wiped off some dirt and grime off the witch's face.

"Um.." She shyly glanced away before looking back and offering Marisa a friendly smile. "Hey there." She said with an odd familiarity. "Are you alright?"

Marisa was stunned for a second, before recomposing herself and flashing her teeth in a huge grin.

"Never been better ze."


	15. Something To Fight For

A choice was to be made here. Should she ascend to the top of the tower, towards the trail of seithr? Or should she stay and investigate the premises? There might not be time to do both, so one must take priority.

**Ascend to the top of the Tower**

**Investigate**

…

..

.

Marisa thought long and hard, gazing at the set of stairs for a couple of minutes and concluded that maybe, just maybe, climbing up those steps probably wasn't the wisest move. Her mind started to wander to the possibility of charging straight into the heart of the problem, and a sudden cold chill descended down her spine like a falling anchor. She held her hand tenderly to her throat, as she could feel an odd throbbing sensation clutching around her neck.

She gulped with mild difficulty.

"Probably should take things slow for once." Marisa said, her voice shaking.

"Still though…" She whispered, as she could've sworn she could still hear the boots of the masked puppeteer clicking against the floor. Great, she thought to herself. Paranoia was starting to set in.

"Gods, you're not giving me much of a choice here…"

With that, she hopped on top of her broomstick, and quietly glided around the room. She searched around the area, hoping to find something that could give her clues that would help her. Maybe some information on the military? Or maybe some secret records...

"Ahh, this is pointless." She muttered.

The entire cathedral was simply too big for her to explore alone. It would take her hours upon hours to scour the place, let alone find anything that might seem useful. Maybe some sort of…

"Oh what did those Kappas call it...Computers?" She scratched her head.

Perhaps a computer that stored data she could access?

Eventually, her gaze traveled to the large orange hologram of the globe that lied further in the cathedral. It's base lied at the foot of the large golden statue of what appeared to be an angelic deity, sporting a fancy and elegant white dress with a decorated staff in hand. Good enough, she guessed. She flew towards the massive hologram, marveling at the world it imitated. It was definitely the same Earth that she knew of, the one outside the Boundary of Gensokyo. Entire libraries of thoughts regarding multiple universes and quantum theories zoomed inside her mind, as she fancied the possibilities of alternate realities.

She shook her head, giving herself a light smack. Now was not the time.

Marisa scrutinized over the base of the Hologram that was emitting the light.

"Hmm…"

She hovered a hand over the Hologram; her extremity and digits connected to it casted a shadow over the roof. She huffed proudly. As she thought, it was powered by Ars. Of course, with such a large abundance of seithr choking up the Earth's atmosphere, it wasn't a surprise that the Global Empire relied on the substance for damn near everything. Which was perfect for her. If it was a classic CPU, she would've been screwed. But, while technology wasn't her strongest forte, Magic was. For anyone still confused, it was pretty simple.

With Ars there's seithr. With seithr there's magic. With magic there's Marisa.

She reached behind her and grabbed a pen with a glowing yellow light flickering at the tip. With masterful precision, she drew a rune of a star around a circle onto the Hologram. The light from the pen left a visible mark on the hologram. Satisfied with the details, the witch placed her hand onto the rune and closed her eyes. The hologram began to flicker, turning off and on in quick succession. The globe's shape becoming contorted.

All she needed was one outlet. One source of Ars Magus that was connected to this installation. If her suspicions were correct, then this base should have all of its Ars connected to each other, all sharing from the same pool of seithr.

"And...bingo."

She finally was able to notice a pattern while reading the magic within the piece of Ars technology. Now, all she needed to do was manipulate the seithr with her own magecraft, and from there, she would be able hack into security footage of the base, and maybe figure out important bits of data. The holographic globe dissipated, and was replaced with a whole jumble of numbers, lines and circles. Each circle were connected with the lines, and the circles varied in size. From what she could deduce from the patterns, the circles represented the areas of the installation that used up their respective amount of energy in comparison with other sections of the building. Smaller circles would represent day to day casual functions, such as a lightswitch for a hallway, or a security camera hanging from a wall.

"So with that in mind, the bigger circles are where the real shit happens."

Colorfully put.

Indeed, there was one particular circle that trumped every other sector in size, akin to the size of a sun compared to the smaller planets orbiting around it. According to the hologram, the circle seems to be resonating from the lowest levels of the entire building, possibly the entire mountain sized city. Marisa hummed as she clicked on the circle, manipulating the magic seithr within the circuits to access a security camera within that level of the building. The hologram changed from the diagram of the cathedral to a security footage of what appears to be a glowing gate made out of wings. Within the gate was a yellow glowing vortex, with a few blue shards coming out from the center.

Marisa couldn't help but clench her teeth at the sight of it all, which oddly started to shake and chatter in the sudden drop in temperature of the room. This must be the site where they transported the souls from Gensokyo. Even from the security footage, she could feel the fabric of time and space distort and ebb oddly around the gate. But if this was the method of transportation, and the bridge that linked this world to her's, then what was the mechanism that was pulling the souls out of Gensokyo? And to whom are the souls for?

From the corner of the scene, Marisa could see the creepy asshole puppeteer standing on a plateau, overlooking the whole process. He appeared to be talking to someone, as Marisa could see his mouth moving and forming words. However the distance and the quality of the security camera hindered her ability to read the words out. The witch gazed to the man's side, and could see someone standing within the shadows. Every part of the person's body was shrouded in darkness. The only thing visible were the brown boots that peeked out of the darkness. The two did not seem to be at odds. In fact, they seem to be discussing matters that, with every intuition she could call upon, bode bad tidings for her and her world.

The puppeteer laughed. A condescending smirk crawling onto his cheeks as he turned towards the mysterious person. Marisa huffed. We'll see who's laughing after she blows that gate up to kingdom come. That'll show that bastard and whoever he was talking to who they were dealing with.

So with that plan in mind, she started to head towards the elevator she saw the freaky puppeteer ride down on. However, before she could even take a step forward..

"Halt."

A voice broke through the chill atmosphere, the words slicing through the air. When it reached the witch, she couldn't help but shiver at the sound. Though to be fair, it was really cold at the moment.

Marisa slowly turned around. When she did, she couldn't help but crack a smug grin.

"Well well well. I was wondering if there was anyone of you guys here."

Standing on top of a balcony was a young blond man, dressed in a decorated military style blue jacket with twin capes fluttering from his shoulders. Within his left white gloved hand was a blue sword sheathed within the same color. Beneath his jacket was a white outfit over a black jumpsuit. However, part of the white cloth had noticeable splotches of red. Bits of frost could be seen emanating off the scabbard, flowing off into the room only to melt a second later.

Well, looks like she found the source of the temperature drop.

The man dropped off the balcony and landed to the ground where the witch stood. When he did though, she could hear him utter a pained sigh upon impact.

"Whoa there, pal. You don't want to make those wounds worse now, do you?"

Now that she had a closer look at the man, she could notice the massive gash on his clothes and skin. Underneath his blonde bangs were bandages and a trail of dried blood. He ignored the remark and held his glare.

"Who are you." He said. His voice dripping with an icy tone; cold and straight to the point. Marisa raised an eyebrow.

"Who wants to know?" She said, taking one step back.

"Answer me." The man demanded, losing large amounts of patience in short time.

"You aren't the boss of me." Marisa said defiantly. With the decision to stay behind and investigate came the decision to not be so reckless. No longer will she carelessly give out her identity, especially to someone of the NOL. Only exception she made so far was Noel, and she seems like the person who would hesitate to swat a fly.

Marisa could hear him muttering under his breath, as if he was in a trance. "Obstacle. Obstruction. Invader." He then glared at her with icy green eyes. "You.. _."_ He said with an unhealthy amount of aggression aimed at her, a mere stranger to him. "Who the hell are you?!"

Marisa playfully hummed and scratched her cheek. "If you'd have to guess, who do you think I am?"

"You bitch." His eyes widened. "You're one of Captain Hazama's underlings, aren't you?"

That name. The name sounded so alien to her, yet at the same time, resonated a feeling of dread within her soul. At the sound, the man in blue could see her smile starting to dwindle.

"I see now. Then you are my enemy."

"Is that how you greet everyone?" Marisa replied with mild sarcasm. "I don't like your attitude, buddy. Better back the fuck up, before you get smacked the fuck up ze."

"Wha-?!" The blond man was taken aback by the girl's brazen words. "What did you say to me?" He hissed.

"Ahh.." Marisa then turned around and shrugged. " But it would be a pretty a bitch move if I were to just go and beat up a cripple. So do me the favor and stay down, would yo-" As she turned her head, she saw a small blade of pure ice flying towards her. She lazily moved her head to the side and dodged the projectile.

"Your existence disgusts me." He hissed. "You...do not belong here."

The man's hand was extended forward, with bits of frost emanating from his shaking hand. He was breathing heavily, as if that one attack used up all of his energy. All for one dainty little kitchen knife made out of ice?

Marisa sighed as she got out her Mini-Hakkero and blasted him with magic. He was sent flying into a wall and groaned as he slid down the marble texture. "Didn't mean to hit that hard." Marisa cringed upon seeing a streak of blood trailing off his body.

"Hey! You should stay down or else I might actually kill you."

"Not yet…" A strange feeling erupted within her chest when she saw the man in blue use his sword as a crutch to pull himself up. _Now that was weird._

"You serious, Blue?" She asked incredulously, deciding to dub him via the color of his outfit. Sure his first impression was that of a dick, but she didn't want to kill the man. "You're that committed to your Library, that you'd risk a fight with those cuts?"

Blue scoffed. "I don't give a damn about the Librarium."

"Figures. You don't seem like a boy scout to me." Marisa commented. "You seem too prick-ish fo-"

"Enough words!"

Blue then got up and rushed at the girl, holding his sheathed sword to his side and his free hand gripping the hilt, a tell tale sign of an incoming battō styled sword swing, a technique she's often seen employed by the Konpaku's . Once he got close enough, Marisa prepared herself to dodge at the first sign of a blade. However, Blue simply tugged his arm at the hilt, pulling at the sword from the scabbard.

"What the-!?" Blue muttered. "Not again!"

But the sword remained in its sheath. Marisa was surprised momentarily before she pulled out her mini-Hakkero again, and blasted him with magic. He was sent flying into the same wall and groaned as he slid down the same cracked marble texture.

"Damn." He cursed.

"That's odd. One of your aura turned off at the last second." Blue heard her say. "I knew there was something off about that sword." He looked up and glared daggers into her. She didn't seem to be bothered. "I couldn't really tell from the beginning. But now I feel it." She pointed at him. "There are currently two presences I sense in front of me. One is you." She then pointed towards the sword in his left hand. "And then there's that."

The man scowled.

"That must be another one of those Nox Nyctores, she told me about. And for some reason, it looks like you can't use it. You two get into a fight, or something?"

Marisa saw Blue stare at his sword and him trying to draw his blade. It didn't budge.

"Then all the more reason to just give up. I mean, you're hurt and you can't even use your weapon."

"Shut up!" Blue yelled as he got up, holding his sword with both hands. Marisa then felt the same flare again, but she couldn't exactly pinpoint where it was coming from. "I will not back down!"

"You can't beat me like this, blue." Marisa shot a bolt of light at the man, but Blue neatly dodged the bullet by jumping in the air.

Blue yelled as he raised his sheathed blade and swung it down towards the witch. Marisa raised her mini-Hakkero, and summoned up a green magic barrier to block the scabbard. She didn't even feel the impact of the sword due to her barrier, yet she felt winded nonetheless. At that point, both persons peered into each other's eyes. It was then that Marisa noticed the presence of the actual man in front of her. Not the sword, but the person in blue. At that moment, Marisa was able to see what this person truly was. A reckless fool. One who would continue to fight despite the massive odds stacked against him. But there was beauty in that recklessness. A beauty that she flaunted herself from time to time. Despite his ragged and bruised appearance, she couldn't help but notice how clear and pure his eyes were.

…

It was extremely odd, Jin thought to himself as he stared into the golden eyes of the mysterious black and white witch. It wasn't a particularly good feeling, but it definitely wasn't bad. He was loathed to discover that the feeling was akin to looking into a mirror. Right in front of him; what he saw in those golden irises was that of a broken girl. A person who had everything in the world, and in the blink of an eye, lost it all. What he saw was a person who shouldn't, by all rights and logic, have much left to fight for. Yet he saw an immense fighting spirit burning within her eyes. It was the urge to fight for the sake of others.

But now was not the time to think pleasant thoughts about the **enemy.**

An enemy? His enemy? But for what reason?

Surely he knew. Why was he questioning it? Because she shouldn't be here. She's an invader. A **phenomena**.

_Shut up…_

She's an obstruction. An obstacle. She needs to **die.**

_Shut up…_

**Kill her. Kill her. Kill her.**

…

There was something wrong. The same clarity within his eyes dimmed for a second.

Marisa broke her barrier, pushing Jin back with a harmless wave of danmaku. Marisa sighed when she saw him slowly get back up from the floor. She wasn't surprised in the slightest. If that's gonna be the case then.

"What are you doing?" She heard him say as she placed her magic furnace back into her pouch.

"It's pretty clear to me that you won't stop no matter what I say. Oddly enough, I can sort of understand the feeling. If this is gonna be the case, I might as well make it a little more even."

"D-don't you dare insult me like that!"

"You wanna fight, or not?" Marisa asked, getting slightly more annoyed with his pompous attitude by the second. "I still doubt you can do much except spill a copious amounts of blood with those wounds."

Silently, Jin slowly stood up and held his sword in front of him, the tip of the scabbard pointing towards her. Again, she can see how focused and clear his eyes were.

"Gonna prove me wrong, huh? Good." Marisa said as she spun her broom like a bo-staff. "Bring it then."

Jin tightened his grip on the hilt and ran at her with a speed frighteningly fast for a wounded man. Marisa barely had enough time to raise up her broom to block the incoming sheathed sword. Marisa's legs wavered from the strength of the swing.

"Heh, not bad." Marisa grinned.

Jin scoffed and broke the lock, swinging back his sword in preparation for another strike. The blue sheath sailed straight towards Marisa's side, but she maneuvered her broom to block the attack again. She parried the blow and tried to counter attack, but Jin foresaw the attempt and counter riposted with his own swing, pushing the blond back. The attack forced Marisa to take a step back, but Jin didn't let up the offensive. He rushed forward and spun his sheath into an overhead swing. Marisa caught the blow, however a couple beads of sweat started to appear onto her forehead.

"Yo, so tell me." She said as she exchanged blows with the blonde man. "Why are you doing this?"

Jin's brow raised. "Why?"

"A guy like you usually belongs in a hospital, yet here you are." She said as she clashed against his sword, locking both weapons in place for the time being. "Why are you fighting?"

Jin pushed against the broom with his Nox, his bangs overshadowing his eyes. "Why you ask?" He asked with a creepy laugh at the end. "To kill you."

At this, the blonde magician frowned, clearly disappointed with the answer.

"Your existence is not of this world. You are an obstruction. An invader that needs to be expunged." He said, voiced filled with not of conviction, but of bloodlust and mania. Not at all what she felt when she gazed into the man's aura. Yet she felt something within his soul.

Conflict.

"That's...that is why-!" Before he could speak another word, the end of the wooden handle of the broomstick struck his abdomen, knocking him a couple of steps back.

"I wasn't asking you." Marisa spat as she eyed the sheathed sword. "I was talking to your master."

Jin's eyes widened when he heard her statement. "Wh-what?" Jin then suddenly felt his sword flare a hideously white aura around it's cold exterior. "Yukianesa?"

Marisa glared at the weapon with contempt. She hated how it could bend something good into a feeling of malice. She looked away towards him with a smile. "There's more to your reason. I know that much."

"My reason?"

"That's right. Your reason to fight, and it sure as hell doesn't come from that sword."

The sword in Jin's hand began to quake beneath his grip. A vast wave of artificial rage started to cloud his mind. His steps staggered. He grunted in pain and held a hand to his forehead, trying to silence the murderous orders inside his skull.

"See? You know it yourself." He could see the girl walking towards him through his hazy vision, putting away her broomstick behind her. "Get...away…"

She ignored his pleas, stepping closer and closer to the man. "I understand how it feels."

His rage started to spiral out of control at the statement.

"That need to fight? To just stand and take on the world? I know it all to well."

Out of nowhere, Jin swung Yukianesa against the blonde witch's head, making her body sway back from the impact.

"You know _nothing_ of what I have to deal with _!_ "

Marisa's hand shook and formed into an angry fist. She swiftly swung her forehead forward, and smashed it against Jin's face. He growled in pain as a thin line of blood started to leak out of his lips.

"I know more than you think." She said as she swiped some of her own blood off her lips with her thumb. "You...me...we both have lost a lot, I can tell." She could easily tell. With tenacity comes loss, and she definitely knew what it meant to lose everything. Jin was caught off guard when he saw her run up at him. She threw a punch, striking him across his cheek. "But it's those losses that gives me my drive!" She said as she threw another heavy punch, this time against his stomach. Oddly enough, he barely felt the impact from the blows, but the emotional power packing within those fists are what he acknowledged with frightening detail. He felt her all her despair and anguish within those punches, but at the same time, he felt a surge of hope and power alongside them, as if she was channeling all the negative energies inside of her and turning it into strength. From Marisa's point of view, every time she attacked, a vision of one of her friends flooded her mind. One hand brought forth thoughts of all the deceased. One hand brought forth visions of those she wished to protect. Jin felt all of this, and thought to himself that maybe it wasn't just to write off her struggles completely. With that, he finally raised his sword and attacked back. Marisa quickly brought her broomstick from her back, colliding it against the Nox.

Throughout the battle, the sound of of wood and metal clashing rang out into the air followed by the occasional sound of impact, which usually resulted in a pained groan from either sides. It continued on for about ten minutes before the sounds of fighting finally died out, with Marisa standing over Jin's even more battered body. Both fighters breathed heavily, trying to suck in as much oxygen into their bodies to numb the pain from their little match.

"Hah...told ya...you wouldn't win." Marisa said through heavy breaths.

Jin couldn't even reply back, as that would drain too much energy and oxygen. He slowly pushed himself back until he felt the cool surface of a wall against his back, while the witch sat down against a fallen pillar. For a while, the two would just sit in the soundless atmosphere, trying to get their breath back. Finally, it was Jin that broke the silence that permeated in the air.

"Why are you helping me?"

Marisa looked momentarily shocked, surprised that it would be him that would initiate a dialogue with her. She hummed and closed her eyes for a moment. "I don't know." She said with a laugh. "Maybe it's because of how much of a stubborn ass you are and that I can relate."

Jin scoffed at the light jab. This only caused the witch to laugh even harder. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Jeez, you really need to learn how to take a joke."

"Spare me the lecture, Witch." Jin said. "Just answer my question."

The girl just sighed. She supposed she mocked him long enough. Marisa casually leaned back and rested her head against the stone pillar, looking up at the sparkling Ars holograms that lighted up the cathedral roof.

"Your eyes." She said simply.

Jin stayed quiet, silently asking for a more detailed answer. "The way your eyes looked for a moment. They were so clear and full of conviction. Like you wouldn't stop fighting for what you believed in, even though the odds are so stacked against you. And seeing that stupid sword turn and twist that desire to fight into something ugly just rubs me the wrong way." She shrugged. "I don't know. But you kind of remind me of me, ironically."

Jin could only stare at her for a second. What he was thinking at the moment, the witch did not know. Maybe she was just rambling at this point, but it's good to have moments like these and just...talk. Preferably not with an enemy, but she had a feeling that he wasn't behind her plight. Call it Magician's intuition if you will. Or more likely _insight._

"Tell me then. Why is it that you fight?"

She smiled. "The same reason as you." She said as though it was the easiest answer in the world.

Jin scoffed, but couldn't help but chuckle slightly. "And that would be?"

Marisa snickered, blatantly laughing at the man shamelessly. "Even after all this time, you still don't know?" She said with contained laughter. "Man, you really are stupid, aren't ya?"

Jin could feel his vein throb inside his head, but chose to remain silent for the inevitable elaboration.

Once her laughter died down, Marisa looked at him once more. She knew very well what lied behind those eyes. "To protect everyone." She said with confidence. "To save the world."

A hero.

Silence was all that Jin could return. For what seemed like the first time in his entire life, he felt a veil lifted from his vision. He struggled for so long, wandering aimlessly throughout the ordeal, tugged by the essence of his Nox Nyctores. But there needed to be something for Yukianesa to pull him in the beginning. Was it Ragna? Of course he would be the original reason for him to travel to Kagutsuchi, but why? Was it revenge? In hindsight, that probably wasn't it. Hatred? Possibly, but that seemed like a by product of his sword more than anything.

Maybe it wasn't Ragna that drove him to fight. Maybe it was like the Witch said, and the reason was always within himself, and not Yukianesa. He could feel the state of the world bound within the shackles of a twisted fake order, and it disgusted him. At last, he felt like he could see for the first time what was destined of him, and what drove him to fight.

For his brother's sake. Recollection of his long forgotten childhood flooded his mind, bringing forth a wave of nostalgia. For the people he loved. He thought of all the friends he made back at the academy, and of course the first friend he could remember as a child. The image of the smiling redhead warmed his chill heart. It was for all their sake, he told himself, that he needed to right the wrongs of the world. To create an environment that they all deserve, along with everyone else.

That was why he fought. He looked down at his sword, once again feeling the dark pulsating energy within the blade. Only this time, the orders were silent, weak, and almost fearful. Fearful of its master's new strength and resolve. He grinned.

**BGM: Lust Sin**

"Ha! I see...so that's my calling." He said as he gripped the sheath within his gloved hands and stood up. "Rise, witch. We still have business to take care of."

"Oh?" Marisa laughed as she pushed herself off the ground with her broomstick. "Up for a runback, blue?"

"I wish to test your resolve compared to mine." He said as he raised his sheathed sword with one hand. "And to see whose conviction is stronger." While his other hand gripped the hilt of the blade. "I trust you will not decline?"

The witch flashed her trademark grin. "I'm getting pumped up already."

"Then think of this as a small sign of gratitude." Jin then pulled with all his might, drawing the sword from its sheath. "Arise, Yukianesa!" A wave of icy energy was emitted from the scabbard, and the area was washed in a flash of white light when the blade was unleashed.

…

"Whoa!" Marisa cried as she narrowly dodged a sword swipe. She jumped back, only for Jin to disappear in a flash once more. She felt a chill from her back, and instinctively rolled away on the ground, ducking underneath a broad horizontal strike from behind. She heard the click of a sword sliding back into its scabbard, but when she turned around, she was met with the sight of Jin unsheathing his blade once more. Marisa held up a magic barrier before the blade could hit her.

Marisa was blown back high into the air, where she recovered just in time to sit on top of her flying broom. Jin saw that she was about to take her magic catalyst out of her pocket. He waved his hands, and a wave of crystal blades was released into the air. Dozens up to a hundred of ice-like swords sailed through the cathedral.

"Now we're talking!" Marisa said as she quickly brought her hand out of her pouch, and held her palm forward towards the torrent of crystal swords.

The first of the many swords completely dissipated into liquid after coming into close proximity to the witch's hand. Soon, all of the swords were dissolved into a giant pool of water, floating in front of Marisa's palm. The pool glowed with yellow electric currents running across its liquid surface.

"That was harder than expected." Marisa said.

"Elemental alchemy on that grand of a scale? Without any incantation?" Jin scoffed. "That's impossible."

"Magic, pal. Everything is possible." She replied. "But you have a point. Even I would have trouble utilizing alchemy on so many things at one time. Too bad for you though, since you happen to specialize in an element that happens to be my best spiritual affinity." She grinned and magically willed the giant puddle in front of her to separate into a thousand little shards of electrically charged droplets. "Water."

She then let the wall of water pellets drop, showering a torrent of magical watery bullets towards Jin. The droplets crashed through multiple stone marbles, completely destroying them upon impact.

"What a pain." Jin muttered as his right hand lingered over the hilt of his sword. He unsheathed his blade, deflecting the first of many droplets. His body blurred, spinning his weapon around himself in a hypersonic tornado of strikes, slicing each and every water droplets that came near him. Thousands of drops later, Jin sheathed his sword. Around him are piles of frozen droplets sliced in half. Not a speck of water touched his person.

"My turn." He said as he conjured up an arrow of light, and an invisible string was attached to the two ends of the Nox, turning it into a bow. He nocked the arrow back and took aim.

" **Arrows of ice!"**

He released the notch, sending the giant arrow towards the witch. " **Light Sign…"** She hopped off her broomstick, and held it in front of her like a rifle.

" **Luminous Strike!"**

A high speed magic green bullet shot out from the broom, and collided with the arrow of ice. The collision resulted in a blinding explosion, creating a cloud of smoke. A second later, the smoke dispersed, revealing the magician charging up a large cluster of multicolored energy. The entire cathedral started to shake under the might of all the collected magic gathered near the catalyst.

" **Master Spark!"**

A bright beam of rainbows was released from her Mini-Hakkero at a direct trajectory towards the blonde man on the ground. That much power could obliterate the entire building, Jin thought to himself. "Reckless girl!"

Before the beam could reach his person, he readied himself by going into a focused stance; bending his knees and resting his right hand onto the hilt of his sword. Once the beam got close enough, he roared a battle cry and unleashed his blade.

The entire Master Spark froze mid-air, and the beam of energy was immediately turned into a pillar of ice.

"What the-" Marisa was shocked to find both of her hands frozen to the giant beam of ice that used to be her Master Spark. "Ow!" She cried out when she felt her life force being absorbed by the ice. "T-t-that's not normal!" Her teeth chattered.

Jin then leapt onto the frozen Master Spark, and started to run up the icy surface towards the immobilized magician. "Crap." Marisa cursed, melting the ice around her hands before he could reach her. She managed to free her hands, but not before suffering a slice across her shoulder. She hissed in pain as she flew back further into the cathedral, while Jin stood at the top of the beam of ice. She held a hand to her wound, feeling a small trickle of blood seeping into her gloves.

"Pure firepower won't be enough to defeat me." Jin said as he re-sheathed his blade.

"I underestimated you. Looks like I gotta go all out then!" Marisa said as a golden aura flared around her body. "Guess I'll have to take it up a notch..." She said as her eyes started to glow yellow.

" **And give you eight percent of my true power!"**

"What?!" Jin exclaimed, taking a step back. "Damn you. So you've only been using less than eight percent of your power?!"

"Pfft nah. That's stupid." She said. The golden aura around her was snuffed out instantly. "Boy, how blown would you be if that was actually the case? That's so cheesy!"

Jin could feel his face fall. This only made the witch laugh at him. However, he noticed that it sounded strained and labored.

"Though to be honest…" It was at that moment he noticed the sweat dripping from her face. "I'm almost reaching my limit here." She said before shooting a quick bullet at him. He deflected it with ease.

"But I'm not done yet da ze!" She flew back higher into the air, spraying a continuous stream of magic bullets and lasers from her Mini-Hakkero. Jin pointed an open palm in front of him, and a massive blast of ice in the shape of a head of a wolf was shot forth. The blast froze all the bullets in the air, reducing all of them into falling balls of ice. Marisa dodged the blast and retaliated by throwing a bottle of blue powder from her pouch. The bottle flew towards the man, and when it came near enough, she shot it with a single blast of magic, causing the bottle to blow up like a bomb. The blast pushed Jin off the icy beam he was standing on, but he recovered mid fall and dashed backwards in the air. He willed all the water molecules around him to gather around his feet, forming a giant icicle from underneath. He bent low and gathered his balance and footing. Once he did, he took off into the skies occupied by the magician.

"Distance will not protect you!"

Marisa looked behind her only to find her enemy riding a flying surf board made out of ice. From his hands, a torrent of icy projectiles shot forward. Glass like bullets ripped through the air, but already Marisa could make out a pattern within the hail of ice. She easily maneuvered her broomstick through the blizzard, and retaliating back with her own torrent of bullets. The two engaged in an aerial dogfight. Throughout the ordeal, Marisa managed to swerve her broomstick upwards in a barrel roll maneuver. Now, it was her that was behind Jin.

"Gotcha."

With her enemy in sight, she let loose a barrage of star shaped bullets. Jin dodged as best as he could, but when it comes to avoiding hundreds of bullets mid-flight, he simply was not as experienced compared to the blonde danmaku veteran. A stray bullet managed to hit the block of ice he was riding on, shattering it. But Jin leapt into the air at the last second, and willed a giant pillar of ice off the ground, creating a platform for him to stand on. He landed cleanly onto the pillar of ice.

"You're mine! **Reaping Blizzard!"**

Jin unleashed his blade in a single sword strike, shooting forth a gigantic wave of cold blue energy and freezing all of the witch's lasers and bullets out of the air. With pinpoint accuracy, the energy wave soon homed in on the flying magician.

Mere seconds before the attack landed, Marisa whispered a slight "Oh shit…" She caught the vertical beam of ice with both hands, using her alchemy to manipulate the water molecules in the attack and dissolving the ice as fast as possible. But this action caused her to keep her attention onto the wave of ice while leaving her stationary, granting Jin enough time to prepare his next attack.

Marisa successfully dealt with the wave of ice, but once her vision was cleared up she saw another incoming arrow coming towards her. She caught the tip of the arrow with her hand; the arrow drilling intensely into her palm, but never actually touching her skin, as the arrow was slowly turned into water. Unlike the wave of ice, where all the power was spread apart, the arrow of ice proved to be more difficult to handle, as all of it's power was focused onto one specific point and direction, all of which were drilling away at her through her alchemy. Just as the arrow was half way melted, another one of equal size and strength was piled on top of it.

"Damn it, da zeeee!" Marisa cried.

When a third arrow followed suit, the blonde witch's body was consumed by the ice, as the arrows inflicted a continuous stream of energy into her. The arrows suspended her in the air, leaving a giant block of ice where the witch once floated. A piercing battle cry echoed from within the icy prison, and a sudden burst of yellow energy erupted from within the shell of ice. Marisa roared as she sped forward on her broomstick. Her body radiated with blue light as she flew in a direct collision towards Jin.

"Take this, my **Last Word**!"

"Wha-?!"

Marisa rammed the tip of her broomstick against Jin's chest, pushing them both towards one end of the large room.

"Better buckle up, cause I think this is gonna hurt!" Marisa yelled.

"Give it everything you got, Witch!"

The two crashed into the the third level of the cathedral, kicking up a storm of blue fire and smoke upon landing. When some of the smoke cleared, Marisa could be seen kneeling on the ground, groaning in pain as she cradled her shoulder with her arm. From the rest of the smoke, Jin walked out and unsheathed his blade, hovering the edge mere centimeters from the blonde girl's throat.

Both combatants stared at each other. Jin with a cold callous glare, and Marisa with her usual cocky and smug grin.

"Looks like a draw." Marisa said calmly.

"So it would seem…"

Jin couldn't contest. For he knew that even though he held her at sword point, behind his head at that moment were four hovering Mini-Hakkeros, all primed and ready to fire.

With a single twitch, he could end this girl's life. At the same time however, a mere thought could leave his head a bloody stump between his shoulders.

"Hmph. Very well." He huffed as he retracted his sword away from Marisa's neck and casually placed it back within his sheath. "I fully acknowledge your strength. Perhaps you're more than a mere clown."

Marisa let out a laugh as her Mini-Hakkeros floated towards her side and into her pouch. "Aw, you know you had fun. Don't lie."

Jin sighed and turned his head away. "Are you always this insufferable?"

"Only on my good days. And most of my bad ones." She teased as she stood up. Jin glanced back to see her extending her hand to him. "Never did properly introduce myself, did I?"

Was this girl serious?

"Name's Marisa Kirisame da ze!" She said with a beaming smile.

Jin merely looked at her for a second, then looked at her hand. He was about to open his mouth to speak, but stopped when he felt the air around him shift.

"Do you feel that?"

Marisa nodded. "Magic."

The area around them then started to shift in tone, until the whole cathedral was turned into an empty black void.

"What sorcery is this?!"

Marisa took a couple of steps forward, and extended an open palm until she felt an invisible barrier. "This feels like…'Eternal Labyrinth'"

" _A fine show, you two."_

A familiar sophisticated voice rang out into the darkness, shocking the both of them. "Relius Clover!"

"Friend of yours?" Marisa inquired.

"Hardly."

" _So that's the Power Of Order at work_. _I'm impressed, Major Jin Kisaragi. To have awakened it this early. But I suppose I'd have to give some credit to your friend as well."_

"Ohh, so your name is Jin, huh?" Marisa asked with a teasing tone.

"Be silent." Jin commanded. "What is it that you want, Puppetmaster?"

" _Why to keep you two out of our way. I've gauged both of your abilities, and you two pose quite a hazard to our operation. Which is why we've decided to trap you here to keep you from causing us trouble."_

While the sound of Relius continued to speak, Jin turned his attention to the girl right next to him.

"Witch, can you negate this illusion?"

"I'm trying, but this ain't no illusion. It's a pocket dimension. Alot more difficult to dispel." She then shot Jin a disappointing look. "And I have a name, you know."

"Wait." Jin said, ignoring the girl's comment, much to her displeasure. "What do you mean 'we?'"

" _I've gathered a new accomplice. In fact she's the one that seems quite adamant about trapping you two here."_

"What?"

"It's true." Marisa confirmed. "I can feel this barrier being casted from two magical sources."

" _A wise girl. So please do behave and stay put."_ With that said, the voice was suddenly silent.

"Damn it!" Jin cursed. "There's gotta be someway to escape."

"Just hold on!" Marisa yelled as she massaged her temples with two extended middle fingers. "I'm trying my best, but it's harder than it looks. I am fighting a two versus one battle, you know."

A sudden thought came to Jin.

"Maybe you don't have to."

Marisa gave the man an inquisitive look. "What do you have in mind then, Jinny?"

He nearly gagged upon hearing that nickname. "One, don't ever call me that again."

Marisa made a mental note to keep calling him that in the future.

"Two, can you sense any weak points in the barrier?"

Marisa hummed as her hands started to glow. She hovered her palms around the air, sensing some gaps in strength in the void. "A few, but not any I can tackle on alone."

"You don't need to." Jin said as his right hand hovered over the handle of Yukianesa. "Can you highlight the weak points?"

Marisa nodded. She closed her eyes for a second before pointing towards multiple sections of the air and placing golden emblems around each weak spot in the spell. She opened her eyes and surveyed her work. "Now what?"

"Attack with all your might at those spots on my mark."

Marisa grinned. "That I can do."

"Three…."

Marisa brandished her Mini-Hakkero.

"Two…"

She took aim at the multiple clusters of yellow emblems.

"One..."

Both stood behind one another, their backs facing each other as they both targeted emblems that floated on their respective sides.

"Now!"

Both Jin and Marisa let out a battle cry as they lashed out and attacked with their respective weapons in unison. Jin unleashed his blade while Marisa let loose a magic beam of energy. In an instant, the black void surrounding them was shattered like glass, revealing the same NOL cathedral they both fought in. The spell was destroyed. They were free.

"We did it!" Marisa cheered.

"We're not alone." Jin told the witch.

"Huh?" She was about to ask more until she heard a voice that made her froze in place.

"Oh dear. So you've managed to break my spell, huh?"

That voice. Right then and there, she could feel her heart jump and sink at the same time. It was a nauseating experience.

"What's wrong?" Jin said, noticing the magician's distress.

The witch shook, recalling the mentions of the puppeteer's new accomplice. All traces of her voice vanished in an instant. "Honestly, you just seem to always find new ways to cause trouble for me, don't you?" That familiar voice. The way it scolded at her brought forth way too many pleasant memories, which only seemed to deepen the empty hole she felt in her chest. "But I should've known better. After all you do have a habit of breaking stuff." The voice said with a slight levity at the end.

She turned around and saw the same masked puppeteer she met back in the city docks. He smirked at her. Above him was a purple ghostly apparition wearing a witch's hat, akin to hers. From the darkness underneath the brim were two glowing red orbs. But those are not the people that made the Magician's heart stop. Her world started to spin and break apart. Her resolve shattering.

"N-no way." Marisa stuttered.

"Get a grip, Witch!" Jin yelled.

It was the person standing in front of them. A blonde, young looking women, dressed in a light blue dress followed with a white cape draped over her shoulders with a red bow decorated over her neck. The girl's eyes also glowed red, the same as the ghost's twin orbs that hovered above her. Hovering next to it were a cluster of dolls armed with lances, swords and shields.

"Just what I would expect from the big bad 'Ordinary Magician'. Right... _Marisa?_ "

It was her.

"A-Alice?!"

...

_**Marisa Stories: End** _


End file.
